


A Room for Rent in the Fourth Estate

by hesterbyrde



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Venom (Movie 2018)
Genre: Alcohol, Canon-Typical Violence, Darcy would really like to graduate sometime soon, F/M, Medium Burn, Multi, Other, Post-Avengers: Age of Ultron (Movie), Sweet Venom Symbiote (Marvel), established relationship eddie/venom, intern darcy, making journalism cool again
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-07
Updated: 2019-03-18
Packaged: 2019-10-06 04:38:27
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 11
Words: 51,769
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17338739
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hesterbyrde/pseuds/hesterbyrde
Summary: Darcy groaned and buried her face in her hands. “You know that internship with Foster nearly got me killed right? Like… Multiple times? And now I've got to do another one?”“Yeah, but I also know that it’s got you living rent free in the Avengers facility in upstate New York where Captain America struts around in a muscle shirt." Dr. Carpenter bit back cheerily. "So… no sympathy.”Darcy snorted against the rim of her coffee mug. “Fair enough.”“Besides, after last time, I wanted to find you something good.”“Yeah?”“So… Just hear me out on this. You know I went to undergrad here at Culver.”“Uh huh?”“You know who else went to Culver for undergrad? Who’s a journalist covering human rights issues, and was one of my classmates?”“Who?”“Eddie Brock.”She sat up straight on that one, like she’d just applied her own taser to the base of her spine. “Eddie Brock? Like… “The Brock Report” Eddie Brock? THE Eddie Brock?”“The very same. He’s doing print stuff these days, and he’s chasing a story involving military recruitment practices. And I found out just the other day that he’s looking for an intern.”“No shit.”





	1. The World Has Many Edges

**Author's Note:**

> Greetings all and Happy New Year!
> 
> I hope everyone had a lovely holiday! I'm back from the madness with a brand new fic with a brand new pairing (for me at least)! Eddie/Venom/Darcy. I fell in LOVE with Venom when I saw it in theatres, and the only thing I thought it needed more of was banter. So of course... cue Darcy Lewis.
> 
> This fic is finished. I'm wrapping up editing on the final chapters as we get closer to them. I'll be publishing Monday mornings unless otherwise stated. I do updates about my writing on my Tumblr at @littlethingwithfeathers. But I don't anticipate any issues with the Monday schedule.
> 
> Many thanks to KaminaDuck and musicnerd88 for being my good and faithful beta-readers. Seriously, I couldn't do this without you.
> 
> And last but definitely not least, thank you for reading! Comments and kudos give me life, so please feel free to reach out. I love to hear how my work strikes people.
> 
> Enjoy!

***

“The world has many edges, and all of us dangle from them by a very delicate thread. The key is not to let go.” ― Anderson Cooper, _Dispatches from the Edge: A Memoir of War, Disasters, and Survival_

***

A soft chime wormed its way through the smothering blanket of deep sleep that Darcy had firmly wrapped herself in. Its steadily ringing crescendo chased her down under the covers and her mountain of pillows until finally it was too piercing to ignore.

"Okay! OKAY, F.R.I.D.A.Y.!" she shouted flinging the blankets off, or trying to and promptly tangling herself further. "I'm up, I'm up."

"Good morning, Ms. Lewis." The sweet synthetic voice greeted from nowhere in particular. Just somewhere vaguely up above her head.

"Morning, F.R.I.D.A.Y." she said, her voice bleary as she clambered gracelessly out of bed. As soon as her feet hit the floor, the coffee maker started brewing automatically. God bless Tony Stark.

Once Darcy had shrugged into her robe, F.R.I.D.A.Y. spoke again. "Would you like your morning updates, Ms. Lewis? Or shall I wait until you have sufficiently caffeinated?”

"Nah, go for it." Darcy said, scratching a hand through her sleep-wild hair. No amount of admittedly amazing coffee was going to have her feeling human anytime soon. Might as well get on with it.

"It is Tuesday, July 28th 2015. The time is 8:32am. It is seventy-six degrees outside with wind out of the north west between five and ten miles per hour. Skies are overcast with a fifty percent chance of rain late tonight and into the early morning hours. You have no new internal messages on the Avengers network. You have no meetings or appointments today. You have three unread emails."

Darcy blinked thickly as she tried to focus on F.R.I.D.A.Y.'s mechanized voice. What the fuck was that accent even supposed to be? It had been almost a year and she still hadn't placed it.

Darcy pulled her mug from the coffee machine and took a long sip, burning her tongue for her eagerness to feel less like an extra in The Walking Dead. "Go on the emails, F.R.I.D.A.Y." she said rather drearily.

"First is another credit card offer. The seventh one this week."

"And it's only Tuesday. Delete."

"Next is an advertisement for a pill that will increase the size-"

"DELETE! Jesus… why… Don't we have spam filters?"

"And last is an email from Dr. Eric Carpenter of Culver University."

Okay, she was awake now. She took another fortifying sip of her lava-hot coffee. "That would be my advisor. Read it, please?"

"Darcy," F.R.I.D.A.Y.'s voice read aloud. "Hope life with the Avengers is treating you well. I know we had discussed that this last online study class would be all you needed to graduate in the spring, but I'm afraid there's an internship credit still missing from your program of study. I'll be in my office all morning today so give me a call whenever's convenient. All the best, Dr. Eric Carpenter. Professor of Political Science, Culver University."

"What the hell? An internship requirement?" Darcy puzzled aloud.

"Shall I call Dr. Carpenter for you, Ms. Lewis?" F.R.I.D.A.Y. inquired primly.

"Yeah. Yeah, let's see what this is about." she said, shaking her head to try and slosh some of the coffee up between her ears. "I shouldn't be missing anything at this point. Especially not that."

Over her head, the dial tone rang and rang until the other line picked up with a click.

"Dr. Carpenter." greeted the pleasantly familiar voice on the other end.

"Hey Dr. C! It's Darcy."

"Hey Darcy! How's the superhero life treating you?"

"Oh, it's the usual. The scientists don't ever remember to sleep or eat. And Captain America strutting around in muscle shirts keeps me from remembering how to do things like breathe and walk in a straight line. But y'know. Eating regular. Living indoors. Living the Millennial dream."

"Living most anybody's dream more like." her advisor replied, a smug smile in his voice.

"Yeah well." Darcy gave a sheepish shrug even though Dr. Carpenter couldn't see her. "So about that intern credit. I thought I had that covered. That's how I wound up on Dr. Foster's traveling circus in the first place."

"I know but the new regs for graduation say that it has to actually be in your field, and ideally relevant to your thesis. Not sure I can spin an internship with a theoretical physicist into political science gold."

Darcy groaned and buried her face in her hands. "You know that internship nearly got me killed right? Like... Multiple times?"

"Yeah, but I also know that it's got you living rent free in the Avengers facility in upstate New York where Captain America struts around in a muscle shirt. So… no sympathy."

Darcy snorted against the rim of her coffee mug. "Fair enough."

"Besides, after last time, I wanted to find you something good."

"Yeah?"

"So… Just hear me out on this. You know I went to undergrad here at Culver."

"Uh huh?"

"You know who else went to Culver for undergrad? Who's a journalist covering human rights issues, and was one of my classmates?"

"Who?"

"Eddie Brock."

She sat up straight on that one, like she'd just applied her own taser to the base of her spine. "Eddie Brock? Like… "The Brock Report" Eddie Brock? THE Eddie Brock?"

"The very same. He's doing print stuff these days, and he's chasing a story involving military recruitment practices. And I found out just the other day that he's looking for an intern."

"No shit."

"Yep. With your focus on recruitment demographics, military policy and so forth, I thought you might be a good fit to help him."

"You want me to go intern for Eddie Brock." The disbelief was thick on her voice.

"No. Eddie Brock wants you to intern for him. I just want you to graduate and get the hell out of my hair." Dr. Carpenter sniped cheerily. "I sent him your thesis and he was all about it." 

There was a beat of utterly pulverized dead silence. "You're kidding."

"Nope. Dead serious."

"Eddie Brock has read my undergrad thesis?"

"Yep. And more importantly, you've got a Skype interview with him this afternoon if you're in. But it's not really an interview. He's pitching. If you want it, it's a sure thing."

"No shit." she breathed the words out. Then promptly inhaled and exclaimed. "HOLY SHIT! What time?"

"2pm your time." She could hear the pleased smile in her professor's voice. "I'll get him your number."

"Yeah. Yeah, okay." she stammered. "Yeah, thanks. Yeah. Like really. No really, seriously. Thanks."

"You're welcome, Lewis." he laughed. "Talk to you later. Let me know how it goes."

"Yeah. Kay… yeah bye"

A tone sounded overhead as F.R.I.D.A.Y. ended the call, and Darcy glanced over at the clock on her bedside table. The conversation had lasted two minutes tops, but suddenly she had gone from glorified coffee and food slave in Jane's lab to possibly interning for one of the most celebrated civil rights journalists in the business right now. Not that she minded Jane or her penchant for forgetting literally everything in the face of All The Science Ever, but the prospect of actually doing what she'd been educated to do excited her. Nevermind that it was with someone so highly respected. And who was literally working on her exact academic focus. 

Holy. _Shit._

Darcy downed her coffee, only wincing slightly at the burn now that her tongue was singed numb, and jumped in the shower. Five minutes later she was dressed in actual clothes, though her hair was still damp, and standing in Jane's lab wearing a huge smile.

"Morning, Jane!" she piped.

"Hey!" Jane said with a curious smile over the top of her computer monitor. "You're up early."

"That's because I am here to offer my resignation." Darcy said, planting her feet beside Jane's desk with her hands on her hips.

Jane drew up short at that. "Your what now?"

"My resignation! I've scored a new internship."

"I… wait with what? With WHO?" Jane said coming around the lab table. A little good natured jealousy had wormed its way into her tone. "I thought you didn't need another internship." 

"So did I, but my advisor said they've changed the graduation requirements for my major so I've got to have an internship that's actually in my field."

Jane's face scrunched up. "Bummer."

"I thought so too, except then I found out who I'm interning for."

"Who?"

"Eddie Brock." She said with the proudest grin ever.

"Who?" Jane repeated with a scrunched expression.

Darcy blinked at her. "Eddie Brock. The fuck do you mean "who?" Eddie Brock! The Brock Report Eddie Brock! Covers human rights stories?"

Jane just shrugged.

"Jesus… I'm getting a television down here in the lab." Darcy said rolling her eyes. "Look him up sometime when you want to get good and pissed about something. He covers human rights violations… exploitation in the workforce... I referenced a shitload of his articles in my early coursework."

"So how does a journalist help you finish your internship?"

"Because he's working on a story about military recruitment policies and that's pretty much my entire undergrad thesis." Darcy replied.

"I… wow. Congrats." Jane said, her eyes going a little glassy.

Suddenly, Darcy felt a little guilty. "Yeah…" she said softly. "It's kinda big. But I doubt it's a permanent thing. I'm… I'm sure I'll be back. If you haven't replaced me."

Jane shook her head with a warm smile. "No no, of course not. You'll always have a place here. Who else is going to drive me into weird god-summoned thunderstorms to take measurements?"

Darcy laughed. "Yeah well. Hopefully this is going to be less… I dunno. Life threatening? I'll probably just be taking down copy… writing notes… sitting in on interviews. Shit like that. But honestly? After dealing with the Dark Elves and Loki and whatever the fuck happened in Sokovia… I think I'm overdue for some desk work. At least for a little while."

"I'd say you are." Jane agreed, reaching over to pull her into a hug. "Congrats. Seriously. This is the happiest I've seen you in a long time."

"Hey, when you take your lunch break, wanna come help me pick out an interview outfit?"

"Sure thing."

"Speaking of which, you had breakfast yet?"

Jane's face folded inwards as she thought far too hard about such a simple question. "Does cold coffee from 3am count as-"

"I'll go get bagels and fresh coffee." Darcy cut her off with a roll of her eyes. "Jesus, Foster."

***

Two o'clock in the afternoon found Darcy Lewis sitting in the desk chair she never used, freshly showered (Again. Because what even was her hair doing…), her eyeliner still drying, and wearing one of Jane's button down shirts, because all two of Darcy's nice work shirts were in the wash.

Just a few minutes after two, F.R.I.D.A.Y.'s soothing voice piped up from over Darcy's head.

"Ms. Lewis, you have a call from Mr. Eddie Brock. Shall I put him through to your laptop?"

Darcy took a totally useless but no less emphatic deep breath. "Yes, please." She replied, sitting up a little straighter. 

A moment later, Eddie Brock's face appeared on the screen tapping a pencil against his lips and Darcy tried her best not to panic. She smiled, feeling like it was more of a grimace that showed entirely too many teeth, but she hoped she looked friendly and relaxed. Which was the exact opposite of how she felt.

"Hey." Eddie greeted with a charming smile and a wave. He was obviously in a hotel room. Not a total roach motel or anything, but definitely not the Ritz Carlton either. "You must be Darcy Lewis."

"That's me." she said, her voice a little thin with nerves. "And you must be Eddie Brock."

"In the flesh."

"I'm… I'm a big fan of your work."

"Yeah?" He said, rubbing his neck with the palm of his hand. "Well, turns out I'm a fan of your work too."

Darcy felt herself blush to her hairline though she hoped she was wearing enough foundation that it wouldn't show. "Well, um, thanks." She said lamely.

"No seriously. Your advisor sent me your thesis on predatory recruitment practices by the US military in the inner city schools. You have some pretty bold stuff to say about the how and the why of what you were seeing. Connected those dots pretty unflinchingly.”

Darcy straightened a little, trying not to look too proud at his assessment. "Well, I mean… Political science is still science. I didn't say anything I couldn't back up."

"Uh huh." Eddie nodded, still tapping his pencil against his bottom lip as he stared at Darcy through the screen. And to her credit she didn't squirm under the scrutiny.

Much.

The hint of a smile touched his mouth as he sat forward in his chair. "Ms. Lewis-"

"Darcy, please."

"Darcy," his smile grew bolder. "I'm going to cut to the chase because we are both busy people and I know you already know why I'm calling you. I'm interested in bringing on an intern to help with an investigation into a shift in the US Army's recruitment tactics in inner city Chicago. Dr. Carpenter recommended you to me because of your background, and I think because he believes we'd be a good fit. How would you like to come to Chicago and chase this story with me wherever it goes? And if it goes somewhere with column inches, I'll put you on the byline and cut you in on the check. And sign off on the college credit, of course. It'll be… a couple weeks max."

"I'm in." Darcy replied immediately.

"It's going to be tough work." he cautioned, though he was kind enough to not be patronizing. "Can't guarantee nice places to stay or any of what you're probably used to up at the Avengers' place. And we'd be sharing a hotel room. Not cost-wise obviously but-"

"Well, I'm not sure how I'll manage without the indoor pool, but I'm sure I'll make it work." Darcy deadpanned, which made him smile. "I'm in, man. Just tell me when and where to meet you."

He gave a chuckle. "Alright. Can you fly out tomorrow?"

"Absolutely."

"Great. Get yourself to LaGuardia by 1pm local time. I'll get your plane ticket taken care of."

"Dude, don't sweat it. I'll have one of Stark's automated planes drop me off at O'Hare."

He pulled a rather impressed frown. "You sure?"

"Yeah, I never ask him for anything like that, but he's always offering so I'm sure he won't blink. He never does for anyone else." Darcy shrugged. "What time you want me there?"

"Meet you curbside at O'Hare at… 4pm tomorrow?"

"You got it."

"Pack light. We might be moving around a bit."

"Can do!"

"Excellent." he huffed out a satisfied sigh. "Well. Darcy, it's been a pleasure to talk to you, and if you don't have any questions for me, I will see you tomorrow afternoon."

"Nope, I'm good. Looking forward to it. Thanks for the opportunity, sir."

"You're welcome. But only if you stop calling me sir."

"Fair enough. See you tomorrow."

"Take care, Darcy."

"You too."

Darcy waited until the screen went dark to bonelessly melt out of the chair and into a puddle on the floor. And she laid there on the carpet questioning her grip on reality for a good five minutes before F.R.I.D.A.Y.'s prim voice managed to penetrate her thoughts.

"Shall I requisition a jet for your trip to Chicago, Ms. Lewis?" the A.I. asked.

"Yeah. Yeah, that would be great. Put the details in an email? My brain's not working so good right now. Thanks…" She said, her voice a little fuzzy as she pulled herself numbly to her feet. She needed to pack. And probably do laundry before that. A lot of laundry. And maybe make a list?

Maybe she shouldn't have said she could make it tomorrow…

***

Eddie oscillated back and forth in his chair, still tapping his pencil against his full lips and staring out the hotel room window. A soft slithering sound announced Venom's protrusion from over his shoulder and he inclined his head towards the symbiote.

**We should have told her about us.**

"I don't want to scare her, Love." Eddie said glancing at Venom out of the corner of his eye. "She's seen some pretty fucked up stuff and I don't want us adding onto it if we don't have to."

**You have us digging in a deep pile of shit, Eddie. This could go sideways if the wrong people are involved. Like before.**

He gave a neutral hum in response. "Hopefully, we'll keep her out of it."

Venom snorted, dropping their chin onto Eddie's shoulder. **What do you think of her?**

"It's not like you don't know what I think."

**I like to hear you use words.**

He looked over at the symbiote, resting his knuckles under their chin and stroking idly. It always shocked him how sentimental this pile of sentient slime could be. "She's smart. I like her writing style. Definitely a better writer than me, I've got to give her that."

**She's cute.**

"Venom!"

**You thought it. You can't lie to me, Eddie. I was just agreeing with you.**

"She is cute." he conceded. "But that's not why I want to work with her."

**I'm not working with her. I'm just looking at her.** Venom's tongue lolled out of their toothy mouth.

"Venom!" He admonished again, though the scolding was undercut by the fond kiss he laid along Venom's slick, black face. Just above their rows of gleaming teeth. That earned him a fond lick from the symbiote's snake-like tongue which ended with the tip in his ear. Eddie shoved at Venom playfully. "Now you're the one being cute."

**Are you saying you want her tongue in your ear too?**

Eddie flushed from sternum to hairline. "Venom, Jesus Christ. This is why we don't date."

**Bullshit. We don't date because we don't need anyone else.** Venom was nuzzling under his ear now, the flat of their arched teeth pressing appealingly into his skin.

"Sometimes it's not about need, darling."

**Oh? Example?**

"Well, I don't need Darcy to do this story. I don't need an intern at all really. It's going to write itself but… collaboration is nice sometimes. Makes things… better. She'll bring things to this project that I don't have."

Venom made a considering noise, settling their face once more on Eddie's shoulder. **I suppose, I understand.**

"If anyone should it's you, Love."

 

***


	2. A Person of Relative Power

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As soon as Darcy's plane landed, she checked her texts. Sure enough, there was a message from Eddie letting her know he was parked at the curb near baggage claim. She retrieved her bags, thanked F.R.I.D.A.Y. for the A+ piloting, and trotted out onto the tarmac.
> 
> She found the famous Eddie Brock perched side-saddle on his motorcycle with one boot on the foot peg and two helmets in his hand. A broad, relaxed smile split his face as he flagged her down. The world did a strange wobble under Darcy's feet as she forced herself to keep stride. Twenty-four hours ago she was a lab assistant in a place where people worked on things she knew absolutely nothing about. The only thing she was certain of was how everyone took their coffee. Now she was about to intern for one of the most celebrated and ruthless journalists in the country. And he'd wanted her not as a last resort, but because he'd read _her_ work and thought she would be an asset to his investigation.
> 
> The world also wobbled because she realized she'd never ridden on a motorcycle before and that was about to change. In the middle of Chicago rush hour traffic.
> 
> Oh well. First time for everything.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Monday everyone!
> 
> First of all... thank you all so so so much for all the wonderful comments, feedback, and encouragement I've seen for this fic. I was worried the pairing would be niche, but I've heard so many people saying they've been waiting for these two, so... no pressure? But seriously... feedback like that is LIFE for a fic author. So thank you all so so so much.
> 
> A big thank you also to my beta readers KaminaDuck and musicnerd88. I could not do this without you.
> 
> And thank you all again! It's been so great to hear that people are excited for this. I hope I don't disappoint.
> 
> So without further adieu... Chapter two! Hey it rhymes! Cheers!

***

“To be a person of relative power and privilege viewing a person of less power and privilege is a political act.” ― Melissa V. Harris-Perry, _Sister Citizen: Shame, Stereotypes, and Black Women in America_

***

As soon as Darcy's plane landed, she checked her texts. Sure enough, there was a message from Eddie letting her know he was parked at the curb near baggage claim. She retrieved her bags from overhead, thanked F.R.I.D.A.Y. for the A+ piloting, and trotted out onto the tarmac.

She found the famous Eddie Brock perched side-saddle on his motorcycle with one boot on the foot peg and two helmets in his hand. A broad, relaxed smile split his face as he flagged her down. The world did a strange wobble under Darcy's feet as she forced herself to keep stride. Twenty-four hours ago she was a lab assistant in a place where people worked on things she knew absolutely nothing about. The only thing she was certain of was how everyone took their coffee. But now? Now she was about to intern for one of the most celebrated and ruthless journalists in the country. And he'd wanted her not as a last resort. Not as the only person who signed up. But because he'd read _her_ work and thought she would be an asset to his investigation.

The world also wobbled because she realized she'd never ridden on a motorcycle before and that was about to change. Right in the middle of Chicago rush hour traffic.

Oh well. First time for everything.

"Afternoon, Darcy." He said, throwing out his hand to catch hers in a firm, friendly handshake.

"Afternoon, Eddie. Thanks for the pick up."

"Oh, it's my pleasure. Trade with me." He proffered one of the helmets as he reached for the bag in her hand.

Darcy hoped she didn't look too much like an idiot trying to get her copious curls to cooperate with the helmet. 

"Shall we?” Eddie said with a humorously magnanimous gesture. “Figured we'd drop off your things at the hotel and then grab a bite. Any requests?"

Darcy shrugged awkwardly in the helmet. She felt like one of those dashboard bobble-head dolls. "First time in Chicago so… I dunno. Something delicious and greasy?"

Eddie thought for a moment. "You had breakfast?"

"It's like… 4:30 in the afternoon?" She said, flipping open the visor of the helmet to frown at him.

"I know. But did you have breakfast?" He asked with a grin as he pulled on his own helmet.

She laughed a little, taking his meaning. And something warm curled in her chest at being asked the question she so frequently asked of everyone else around her. "Breakfast sounds amazing."

He threw one leg over the bike and gestured with his elbow for her to climb on behind. She flipped her visor closed, and clambered on with minimal awkwardness though she wasn't sure what to do with her hands once she was seated. And she could tell she was holding on to him so tight with her legs, as if their ride was going to buck her off while in idle.

_God, Lewis. Get a grip._

"Around the waist, doll." Eddie said, a good natured smile in his voice. "Or on the shoulders. I don't bite."

Darcy willed herself relax a bit, settling her arms around Eddie's middle and feeling the leather of his jacket creak as he pulled out into traffic. The ride was smooth, and only once did Eddie have to accelerate suddenly to shoot a gap in traffic. But she just held on and concentrated on how calm and happy he seemed, and just hoped it would rub off.

Eddie's pick for breakfast-for-dinner turned out to be a charming little diner about a block from the hotel, so they parked the bike and walked. Inside was all shining chrome and red fake leather and music that took Darcy back to that one semester when she took swing dancing as an elective. She actually hadn't been half bad, and couldn't resist subtly grooving with it a little as they headed for their seats. 

The waitress was on them in an instant, passing them menus and asking for their drink orders. Turned out that it was one of those places that served breakfast all day, and Darcy was starving since she had actually skipped both breakfast and lunch on account of nerves. She impulsively ordered three eggs over easy and a double order of hashbrowns with extra bacon and cheese. And coffee, because by God did she need it.

Fairly certain that she'd just ordered more food than she could ever eat, she then listened as Eddie Brock seemed to order half the restaurant. A hamburger. Steak cooked rare and eggs scrambled with cheese. Coffee. Orange juice. Three orders of tater tots with cheese and a double order of bacon. 

Eddie smiled bashfully when he saw her eyebrows migrate towards her hairline. "I kinda got carried away writing last night and this morning, and may have skipped lunch. You know how it is. Work consumes you."

Darcy inclined her head and nodded. "Believe me I know. I spent the last two years of my life working in a lab with a bunch of scientists that have to be reminded multiple times a day to eat real food and drink water because they aren't robots."

"That sounds… less than rewarding."

She gave a half shrug. "I mean… I've grown to like it in a way. Dr. Foster and Dr. Selvig... They're good people, y'know? And their work is important even if I don't understand a damn thing they're doing. Plus I get to hang out with the Avengers so… y'know. Win-win!"

"So what were you doing before that?" Eddie asked, graciously accepting their coffees when they arrived.

"I was full time in undergrad at Culver." Darcy said, pulling the containers of cream and sugar between them. "Poli-sci with an emphasis on military policy."

"Anything in particular draw you to poli-sci as a major? Any particular… I dunno… career ambitions?"

Darcy's face twinged as she shrugged. She hated questions like this, but it didn't seem like Eddie was grilling her for specifics. Just that he was curious about his new partner in crime, and was trying to break the ice. And it was common ground for them after all.

"Honestly, not really anything in particular." She replied truthfully. She already had the internship. What could it hurt? "I just… I grew up in Arlington, Virginia. Anyone from that part of the country either loves politics or hates it. I loved studying it. I loved tracking the who and the why. I felt like it was important… y'know? Context is important in public affairs. Wasn't ever really sure what I would do with it. I guess I just figured that I'd work that out once I started needing to pay off the student loans."

Eddie laughed at that around the rim of his coffee mug.

"So yeah, I mean… I might wind up back at Avengers Central after this, cause y'know… free room and board is nothing to sneeze at these days, but who knows? Maybe I'll start freelancing or something. It'll be nice to not just be an errand girl."

Eddie nodded. "I feel that. Did my fair share of jobs like that." he said as their food was plopped down in front of them. The whole table was covered in plates...mostly Eddie's plates.

"So… can I ask what we're chasing here?" She asked as she searched amid the plates for the salt shaker. "You said something about military recruitment?"

"Yeah, so… there's been a real push by the army to recruit kids from the inner city here in Chicago."

Darcy nodded, salting her food before passing the shaker to him. "That's not news though. That's been going on for ages all over the country. Ever since 9/11. Heard they were actually looking at lifting the felony restriction."

"Check this out." Eddie fished out his phone and pulled up some graphs with a few flicks of his thumb. He passed it to Darcy before grabbing his knife and fork. "So that first graph is the general trend of inner city recruitment over the last ten years."

"Oh yeah. I know this." she sat forward, squinting at the screen. "This is the graph that got me started on my thesis." 

Eddie nodded and spoke around a forkful of eggs. "Keep scrolling."

Next was another graph, showing national statistics for the past five years and the past year. And then there was another showing Chicago's for the same spans of time. The national chart showed a slight blip in the last year, but nothing out of the ordinary.

The Chicago graph jumped by 200%. All in the last year, and it was not a steady climb. It jumped and plateaued. 

"Whoa." Darcy said, sitting forward a little.

"That's what I said." Eddie replied around his mouthful of food.

"I take it no where else shows a jump like this?"

He shook his head and swallowed. "Keep scrolling. I've got a few other major metro areas in there for when I need some comparison later. But I'll save you the time. Nowhere else is showing an uptick like that."

Darcy flicked through a few of the other graphs just to say she had, but Eddie was right. Everywhere else the numbers were stable. Chicago was the only one with a jump, and it was quite a jump. A sustained one at that. No way that wasn't the product of intention. 

"Let me ask the dumb questions." Darcy said, passing him his phone and digging into her own eggs.

He gestured with his fork. "Ask away."

"Any new bases open in the area? Even in the surrounding states?"

"Nope. They've even closed a few of the nearby military manufacturing facilities over the last few decades."

"New recruitment branches or agencies?"

"Not that I've found. They could be hiding somewhere or they might be mobile, but so far, most of the activity is through the branch on the south side of the city."

"So what do we think?" She asked before scooping up a bite of hashbrowns.

"I'm thinking PMCs are starting to widen their employee qualifications? That or there's some kind of specialized training going on."

"You done any preliminary interviews?" 

"Some. Talked to recruiters I've seen. Got stonewalled. But what really got my attention was what I'm hearing from the kids on the streets about what's happening in their schools."

"Yeah?"

"I mean we're used to seeing stuff like… promises of free college and career advancement. Sometimes even free food at the recruitment events in the really disenfranchised areas."

"Oh yeah." Darcy nodded, her lip curling in disgust.

"But around here, particularly on the south side of the city, there have been huge recruitment vans that show up and take these kids like… on field trips. Overnight field trips sometimes. Put them up in swanky hotels or "barracks" that are nicer than the dorms at Culver. Feed them really well and they sign up lickety split. And here's the kicker. Some of them even waive their last year of school to join up sooner."

Darcy drew up short at that. "That's… how? That's not even legal. Unless I've missed something."

"They're couching it as a work-study career development thing." Eddie said, wobbling his fork as he talked. "But you're right. It's still a hardcoded rule… can't sign up for the military until you're 18. Period."

"That's… wow, that's sketchy as all fuck."

"Oh just wait. I'm getting to the really sketchy part." Eddie said waving his fork in her direction. "According to some of these kids I've talked to, they'll hear from their friends at basic for a few weeks but then poof. Nothing. Even after basic is supposed to be done. No online presence. No cell records. And the DoD doesn't know where to find them...or won't tell me."

Darcy's face drew up into a heavily shadowed frown as she cut into her hashbrowns. "So… what's our play? Seems like the DoD's a dead end. What about street interviews? You want to go more in depth with the schools maybe?"

"I want to go there eventually, but I think that's going to tell us more of what we already know which is the who and the how. I want to know the why and the where."

"Okay back to dumb questions for a minute. Have there been any new surges in the conflicts overseas? New campaigns on the ground?" Darcy asked. "Sorry… I'm sort of out of the loop over at Avengers HQ. They watch a totally different data set over there."

"Nothing that isn't super black ops." Eddie replied.

Her frown deepened as she rapped her fork on her plate. "But even then… you wouldn't need thousands of young inexperienced soldiers for something covert."

"Right… Which makes me think that whatever it is, it's happening stateside still."

"Agreed. And we want to keep it that way." Darcy finished for him. "This uptick has been going on for what… holding steady at ten months?"

"Eleven next week. I expect to see another jump in the spring as college rejection letters come in and people get desperate."

"So we don't have time to couch this as a humanities story." Darcy munched on a piece of bacon as she talked it through. "It'll never get enough traction. Especially not with the crowd it needs to. Liberals will just shrug and say, yeah what else is new. Conservatives will all shrug and say they're glad they're getting jobs, the lazy bums, and ooh-rah, God bless the military and pass the ammunition or whatever the line is."

"Exactly." Eddie said pointing his fork at her with a bright-eyed grin. "See, I knew we would get along as soon as I read your paper."

"But what's the play?"

"Well, we'll go talk to the gentlemen at the recruitment office in the morning tomorrow."

"But we already know they won't tell us shit. I take it you want to catch a recording of them dodging you?"

"Never hurts. Actually, I might just send you." he tapped a finger on his lips. "They don't know you. I can do some more prelim interviews with the local kids. Like you said… context. That info's gonna have value in the big picture when it comes time to publish."

"But we know they won't give us shit. So then what?" She asked.

Eddie's broad mouth spread in a mischievous smile. "What are your feelings on breaking and entering?"

Darcy swallowed a little prematurely on the bite of bacon she'd just taken and winced. "Wh-what?"

"The DoD won't talk and won't provide data… so we'll go get it ourselves."

"We're just going to break into a U.S. military facility and steal paperwork?"

"Yep." he replied. "Or maybe not steal. But look at? Take pictures of? Hell yeah."

Darcy shook her head and went to speak, but opted to take a bite of her eggs instead, mopping up the yolk with her toast.

"You good?" Eddie asked looking down at her. "Cause I get it if you don't want in on this part."

"No, I'm good." Darcy said a little too quickly. "I've… trust me I've done weirder shit than this. Pretty sure there's nothing up the military's skirt that could scare me at this point."

"Yeah?" Eddie said, an amused smile spreading like an oil slick across his face. And for a split second, Darcy had the undeniable impression that the smile wasn't his. 

It wasn't a smile. It was a smirk. And Eddie seemed like too genuine a guy for smirking. Actually when she thought about it, it looked like an expression that would be more at home on Loki's wickedly sharp face than on Eddie's fuller, boyish features.

She looked away and blinked a couple of times to clear the sensation out of her brain. "Yeah. Y'know, my old supervisor dates an Asgardian prince, and once in awhile he brings a family dispute to Earth? So… y'know. I've seen some stuff."

Eddie shrugged, but that smirk didn't leave his face. "So you're in?"

"Yeah… yeah, I'm in. When are we doing this?"

"Well, if you're not busy tomorrow night..." The actual smile was back as he ran the last bite of his steak through the bacon grease.

Darcy smiled back. "Well y'know… I'm probably having dinner with this guy I'm interning for, but after that I'm free. And- holy shit are you finished?"

As they'd been talking, Eddie had positively demolished every scrap from his plates, leaving the ceramic completely clean.

He shrugged with a sheepish grin. "Like I said. Work eats me alive."

"Well here, I mean if you're still hungry. I'm done." She pushed her half finished hashbrowns at him.

He arched an eyebrow. "You sure?"

"Yeah, no I'm stuffed. Have at it."

He polished off her hashbrowns in short order as she downed the last of her coffee. And with their bellies full and a plan in the air, they paid their checks and headed back to the hotel room.

"I'll get the couch folded out." Eddie said, tossing his jacket across the chair in the corner.

"Oh God, it's been ages since I slept on a fold out couch." Darcy chuckled. "Maybe two Thanksgivings ago? When we stayed at my aunt's house which is about the size of a pack of gum."

"What? I mean… Oh no, I'd give you the bed. By all means." He gestured in a clumsily grand way towards the bed.

Darcy snorted. "No way! This room is on your dime. I'm just happy to be here."

Eddie seemed to draw up short at that, staring at her a little dumbfounded. 

"What?" She asked as she watched him blink at her.

"Just… I didn't expect you to be so amenable. I mean… not that you seemed fussy or anything, just-"

"Seriously, dude, I'm really glad to be here." Darcy assured him, heading over to the sofa and pitching the couch cushions into the corner. "I admire the shit out of your work. And just… This is my jam, man. I've spent the last two years feeling like I don't know shit about shit. And you and I just hatched an amazing plan to expose an underhanded recruitment scheme by the U.S. government while we had scrambled eggs and diner coffee. Do you know how long it's been since I got to use that part of my brain? Dude, I am fucking here for this. I don't care if I have to sleep on the damn floor."

Together they heaved the creaky bed out of its hiding place as she was saying this, and Eddie's capacious mouth spread slowly in the most genuine smile Darcy had ever seen. And she couldn’t help but mirror it back to him. She hadn't been blowing smoke up his ass. She was thrilled.

For at least the shortly foreseeable future for both of them, it was going to be a worn-in hotel room, and greasy diner food, and long conversations about military policy, and that right there was a sort of joint definition of paradise. There was no place either of them would rather be. Darcy could feel it herself, way down in her bones. 

And he confirmed it with a soft chuckle as he started tossing the spare bedclothes to her from the closet. "Me too, doll. Me too."

***


	3. It Is Difficult for a Man to Understand

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The next morning found Darcy feeling over-caffeinated and over-dressed in the under-air conditioned office of the Army recruitment center on the south side of Chicago. And she was trying desperately not to sweat through the only suit she brought. Thankfully, she wasn't wearing a wire because she was certain it would have shorted by now and she would've been electrocuted, and that was far from conducive. They'd opted for the old camera-in-the-glasses trick instead, and even though she wore glasses every day, she still felt awkward and fidgety with them. So in an effort to not look like a total spaz, she clutched her tablet to her chest, and gave her best prize-winning smile to a young man in an Army uniform who was manning the front desk at the recruitment office.
> 
> "What can I do for you, Miss…?"
> 
> "Lewis. Darcy Lewis. I'm a political science student at Culver University and I'm working on my thesis on military recruitment practices."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Monday, y'all!
> 
> Thank you all so much for the continued support and kind words you've written in the comments. Seriously, it makes my day to get that little notification and I do my level best to respond to everyone. I just... I'm so excited you're excited, y'know? And feedback like that is so so so important. So thank you all very much.
> 
> And also thanks to my beta readers KaminaDuck and musicnerd88! Couldn't do this without you guys!
> 
> And for good measure, thank you again for reading and for all your wonderful comments and kudos. Enjoy today's installment and I'll see you next week!

***

"It is difficult for a man to understand something when his salary depends upon his not understanding it." - Upton Sinclair

***

The next morning found Darcy feeling over-caffeinated and over-dressed in the under-air conditioned office of the Army recruitment center on the south side of Chicago. And she was trying desperately not to sweat through the only suit she brought. Thankfully, she wasn't wearing a wire because she was certain it would have shorted by now and she would've been electrocuted, and that was far from conducive. They'd opted for the old camera-in-the-glasses trick instead, and even though she wore glasses every day, she still felt awkward and fidgety with them. So in an effort to not look like a total spaz, she clutched her tablet to her chest, and gave her best prize-winning smile to a young man in an Army uniform who was manning the front desk at the recruitment office.

"What can I do for you, Miss…?"

"Lewis. Darcy Lewis. I'm a political science student at Culver University and I'm working on my thesis on military recruitment practices." She lied smoothly. Eddie had coached her a little, but she'd come in after curfew enough as a teenager that she was a pretty smooth talker by nature.

"Sergeant Walker." He offered his hand and she took it with what she hoped was a professional-ish nod. "Well, Ms. Lewis, what would you like to know?"

"I'm curious about your recruitment strategies in this part of Chicago. Target demographics. How procedures and approaches differ depending-"

"Well…" Sergeant Walker drew the word out as he flicked through a standing file on his desk and pulled out some paperwork. "This is the standard information package we hand out at all the high schools in the Chicago area. It details college tuition waivers, health benefits, career opportunities… There are a lot of incentives for signing up and they don't change based on social standing or economic class."

Darcy made a show of thumbing through the folder. She'd seen it all already. Eddie had several of these folders given to him by high schoolers in the area and they'd gone over them already. And she saw some that were very similar when she was writing her thesis. "Anything in here about the mental health benefits?" she asked, her voice bland. "Or stats about PTSD in soldiers returning from war zones?"

There was a practically audible click behind the young officer's eyes as he blinked at her question. "I believe mental health is covered under the general health care package." His tone had taken a careful shift. One that Darcy marked, and she was not the only one.

The door behind Sergeant Walker opened and another gentleman, wearing civilian clothes and sporting the most severe crew cut Darcy had ever seen, stepped out wearing a blistering smile that would look out of place anywhere but a used car lot. A cloud of cheap cologne followed him and nearly made Darcy take a step back. She was pretty sure this was what being maced felt like.

"Hi there!" he greeted brightly in a tone that Darcy was certain could be used to grease the engine on Eddie's motorcycle. "Couldn't help but overhear. Is there something I can help you with?"

"I was just asking some questions for my thesis." Darcy said, trying not to grit her teeth around the words. "Darcy Lewis." She put out her hand ready to give her best and firmest handshake.

"Clayton Tisdale." he said, taking her hand only by her fingers and at such an angle that a strong grip was not possible. In fact, she thought for a half-second that he was about to kiss her hand instead of shake it. "What kind of questions do you have, Ms. Lewis?"

"I'm looking into effective recruitment strategies employed by the U.S. military." She said, resisting the urge to wipe her hand on her pants once she'd reclaimed it. It probably smelled like that pervasively God-awful cologne. Ugh.

"Well, ours are certainly effective." Clayton said, clapping his associate on the shoulder. The young officer was clearly relieved to have him there. Darcy filed that away under things that should be mildly worrying. "Since opening this office, recruitment numbers have doubled in the last year."

"Quadrupled, actually." Darcy corrected, showing her teeth and hoping it looked like a smile. "At least according to the graduation stats from this area last year. And it's just this area in particular. Why is that?"

"Well, this area is certainly one of the most underprivileged parts of Chicago. Crime rates are only outmatched by school dropout rates. Poverty… single parent households… all these numbers are sky high. And we just want to show these kids that there's a way out of this. The Army offers competitive pay… benefits… even pays for college. It's better than anything they'd get on their own where they come from."

"And where do they come from?" Darcy asked, a baited hook on every word.

"Why… the underprivileged neighborhoods that stretch for blocks all around us." Clayton answered, his smile growing more transparent with each of Darcy's questions. Like greasy tissue paper.

"Underprivileged." she parroted, making a show of looking down at her tablet. "Would you say that's a synonym for "vulnerable?" That these kids don't really have a lot of options besides what you're offering if they want a leg up. You're kind of the only gig in town for them, yeah?"

Clayton's eyes narrowed, but he couldn't formulate an answer before Darcy had pressed on.

"The packet here looks pretty standard." she said, again making a show of leafing through it. And that was true. It looked exactly like the ones she'd seen a couple years ago when she'd started her research. "But what I'd really like to ask you about is these field trips you've been taking local students out on."

Clayton swallowed hard and his car-salesman mask slipped a fraction. "What would you like to know?"

"I've spoken with some of the school officials and students at the local high school. They say that they've been taken on almost yearly field trips for the past three years to the decommissioned Joliet Army Base, where they've stayed in state of the art Army barracks, done mock field trials and seen numerous demonstrations of unit tactics and field tests of equipment."

"Yes ma'am that's correct." Clayton replied. "We want to give these kids an idea of what to expect if they choose to join the military. We feel that's important they see an active military base.”

"Except that's a misrepresentation." Darcy cut back calmly. "First of all, the students describe a trip that took less than an hour. The nearest active military base is Rock Island and that is over three hours away. Joliet is the only military installation that fits the travel time, but Joliet has been closed since the 80s. It was given over to various environmental and national monument groups for reclamation as wilderness habitat."

"Ms. Lewis, I-"

She ignored him, looking down at her notes on her tablet. "Students have mentioned high end transportation, accommodations which by the standards of government housing and tenement apartments probably seem like the lap of luxury though it doesn't sound like they reflect actual Army housing in the slightest. And they also have mentioned tests of weapons that are not the property of the U.S. government." Darcy went on. 

"Thank you, Ms. Lewis but-"

"These are just simple facts, Mr. Tisdale." Darcy stated coolly, feeling herself puff up a little as he visibly became more agitated. "I haven't gotten to my questions."

"Ms. Lewis, you've been given the facts on our recruitment strategies." he bit back. "Whatever these students are telling you, their circumstances are quite clearly clouding their perception of reality. Many of these unfortunate young people come from homes without basic necessities. Without three meals on the table a day. Without a strong, stable support structure."

_Unfortunate young people._ Darcy wanted to vomit.

"I don't want to hear about the students." She pressed on. "I want to know how you're convincing them to sign away their adulthood in greater and greater numbers. Far more than any other recruitment office in the country. And I want to know how you've managed to circumvent the age limit. Eighteen is still the legal age at which you're allowed to join the military. I want to know how you're-"

Clayton cut her off with a sniff, his car salesman smile vanishing like a curl of smoke in a stiff breeze. "Yes, I'm sure Eddie Brock would like to know that." he answered coldly. 

Darcy had been about to fire back but that statement made her teeth close with a click. She schooled her reaction as best she could, but that comeback was a serious punch in the gut. She just hoped that she hadn't given herself away. 

But it had. Clayton knew he'd clocked her, and his face split with that same greasy smile he'd greeted her with. "We had him escorted off the premises and banned for stirring up the same ruckus you are now, Ms. Lewis. Kindly see yourself out, before I have to use force with you as well."

Darcy took a soft breath through her nose and gave both Clayton and Officer Walker her best, most professional smile. "I'll see myself out."

He nodded to the door. "You do that, and you have a great day." he said crisply before pivoting and retreating through the office door.

Once she was back outside in the parking lot practically cooking between the blistering sun and the scalding asphalt, she called Eddie.

"Hey, find out anything?"

"Only that somehow they already know we're working together."

"The fuck?" he swore. "I know you didn't tell them. How do they know?"

"I know. And no, I didn't. I… I have no idea." Darcy said, scratching her free hand through her hair. "They've gotta be watching you, Eddie. That's the best I can think of." 

"Fuck." he bit the word off, consonants crackling across the shitty connection. 

"This… this is bad." Darcy said, her face scrunching up only partly from the glaring sun. "Right? Like… this is weirdly bad."

"Yes. Weirdly bad." he said, sounding none to happy about it. "Look, just meet me back at the hotel. We'll grab a bite of dinner and talk it through. You good with Chinese?"

"Chinese sounds great but… You sure we shouldn't change hotels or something?"

"They're expecting us to. Best to stay put. Any requests for take-out?"

"No, I'm easy." She said, grinning around the remark and hoping it wasn't too much. "And starving now that you mention it."

"That makes two of us on both counts." There was a smile in his voice at the innuendo and that made the tension in Darcy's gut ease by a fraction. "See you when you get back."

"Alright. See you in a few." Darcy hung up her phone and headed for the metro.

***

She arrived at the hotel room to be greeted by the Great Wall of China constructed out of takeout boxes on the coffee table. And Eddie was already halfway through a box of noodles.

"Christ. Did you forget to eat again?" Darcy asked surveying the scene.

"Maybe." Came the muffled reply.

"You're worse than Jane, and that is a feat." Darcy tossed her bag aside and settled in on the couch next to him to pick through her options. "Seriously, you must metabolize like a fucking jet engine."

"Yeah, guess mine's never going to slow down."

"Lucky." Darcy grumped as she settled on a container of some sort of chicken in a goopy reddish sauce. The first bite was going to tell her if it was General Tso's or Sesame, but she didn't really care which. "So why aren't we leaving yet?"

"The phone might've been bugged number one." Eddie said, gesturing with his chopsticks.

Darcy inwardly groaned at her own naivety. Of course… bugged phone. That was her reality now. Maybe she should have spent more time with Natasha Romanoff… getting spy tips or something. "Take it this is not your first rodeo with that one." she asked, flopping back with her dinner in her lap.

"Nope. First time with the US government doing it though. So… y'know. Hooray for us, I guess." He rolled his eyes before cramming another pile of noodles in his mouth. "But we'd be smart to move after we check out the recruitment office anyway. Y'know... don't want to wear out our welcome in the Chicago underbelly just yet."

"Fair." Darcy said with a shrug as she popped a piece of chicken in her mouth. Ah… General Tso's it was. Extra spicy too. Sweet. "I take it you've got this place scoped out."

"Yep." he replied before shoveling the last of his noodles into his mouth and tossing the carton aside. "There's security cameras all over the place, but I'm pretty sure that if we time it right, we can cut a gap in the fence and slip in the back." He scooped up one of the three boxes of dumplings and flopped back on the sofa. "I actually managed to make it into that back office where you said Clayton came out of. Off to one side, I saw there's a hallway filled with file boxes. I'm betting that's a good place to start looking."

Darcy nodded, "Sounds good." she said, mining around in the carton for another bite of chicken before swapping to a box of rice.

"Not that I'm making you come with me." Eddie said, cutting his eyes over at her.

She snorted around a mouthful of rice. "You're not making me do shit. But I'm coming."

"I'm just going to say this once so I can sleep, but also just once so I don’t sound patronizing." He said fishing one of the dumplings out with his fingers. "You don't have to."

"I appreciate that." Darcy said, stealing a dumpling from the carton with her chopsticks. "I'm coming."

"Fair enough." he said with a shrug, and returned to inhaling his dumplings.

Darcy nodded, mostly to herself. She really should have spent more time with Romanoff. Oh well. Too late now. She just hoped she knew what she was doing...

***

 

_What the fuck am I doing?_ Darcy thought desperately to herself as she and Eddie slipped through the gap they'd just cut in the chain link fence surrounding the recruitment office. The thought didn't give her any pause per se. She still followed right behind him, setting her feet where his had just been so as to leave only one set of footprints in the dewy grass. And she felt super cool that she only stumbled once trying to pull that off. Watch out, Black Widow.

Not really.

Eddie fished out a lock pick when they were on the door and had it open in seconds. With his hand on the knob, he looked back at her, his eyes asking the obvious question.

_Ready?_

She just responded by showing him the taser that she'd been palming since they'd started cutting through the fence. He smiled. She wasn't sure if it was genuine or if it was that strange smirk from earlier. Regardless, he seemed happy that she was somewhat armed. At least one of them was comforted by the fact that she'd attempted to come prepared. The thought that she might need it at all had Darcy's pulse was pounding so hard she thought she might lose a filling.

Almost as soon as the door was closed behind them, they could hear voices. And other strange mechanical sounds. An exchange of looks confirmed the joint desire to sneak closer and see if they could hear what was being said, so together they crept down the hall towards where Darcy supposed that Eddie had glimpsed the file boxes they were after. 

The sounds grew louder. More distinct. The mechanized whirring that kept starting and stopping became more and more familiar. And with a sudden, heart-stopping realization, Darcy grabbed Eddie's arm and pulled him around to face her. 

"Shredder." she whispered the word so delicately, it was barely more than a hiss of air.

"Fuck." he mouthed in response, craning to try and peek through the cracked door.

Sure enough, there were people in the office shredding things. And all the file boxes he'd seen the week before were scattered and empty on the floor around them. Eddie swore silently again, new plans clearly spinning up behind his eyes as Darcy crouched closer to the wall waiting for her cue. They needed some of those files. Perhaps now more than ever seeing as they were worth of a witching-hour shred session. Plus if they didn't get something from this, they were at a dead end. Stonewalled on all fronts from writing anything other than a humanitarian piece that no one would read. These people must've known Eddie and Darcy were onto them. Why else would be be doing this?

Darcy snuck forward a few paces and peeked inside one of the boxes by her feet. It was empty. As was the one next to it. And the one next to it. So everything out here had already been shredded. They must be working on the last of it. Awesome.

So they crept closer. Perhaps they could reach one of the other back rooms. One that hadn't been cleaned out already. Boost a couple of those file boxes and get the hell out of here before-

The hallway door opened wider and someone stepped through bumping straight into Eddie, sending both he and Darcy stumbling backwards in the hall a few steps. The man was in civvies but he was built. And even in the dim light, Darcy could see that both he and the men in the room behind him were armed with handguns. 

"Holy shit!" the man exclaimed jumping backward and already going for his weapon. 

Darcy had expected Eddie to run back towards her when she saw the gun, and she was fully ready to pivot or backpedal herself. She even still had her taser out to buy them a little time to escape. She hadn't been ready at all for Eddie to launch himself at the guard, carrying them both into the office, with nothing but his face to block the bullets.

"Eddie, are you fucking insane?!" she shouted, struggling to reset her footing and follow. She rounded the corner, expecting from the ensuing noise to see Eddie in a dogpile of these goons, and she would be left trying to figure out which one to tase without getting him too.

She made it three paces into the room before her eyes agreed to resolve what she was actually seeing. One guard dead on the floor with Eddie crouched over him. Blood was everywhere. On the stunned guards. On Eddie's face and hands. And staining the cheap carpet and the tacky-ass wallpaper. 

But how was the guard dead? And not just dead but _very_ dead. Like… bits of him everywhere dead. Giant gaping chest wound dead. Eddie didn't have any weapons that she knew of. Just a multi-tool. What the hell was-

She couldn't think past that because one of the other guards was drawing his pistol. She took a step back into the doorway. Everything was coming too fast and her brain wasn't quick enough. And suddenly there were six of them in the room? Somehow? Why did they need six people to shred documents? And why the fuck did they need guns?

Oops. Too slow again.

She heard the crack of gunfire, and covered her face with her hands and figured that this was just it. Turned out she would die of an internship after all. But she was much more okay with this than she had been working for Jane. What was the saying? Something something, died doing what she loved?

But no sooner had the muzzle flashed then Eddie lunged forward with a wet, ragged and positively inhuman snarl. And that sound actually made her recoil more violently than the sound of gunfire. She peeked between her fingers and…

Well...

Later Darcy might've said it was dark in the room. That she wasn't sure of what she saw. It was all happening so fast? People said that all the time when they didn't comprehend or remember what they were seeing...

But she saw what she saw. And she would never unsee it.

She saw Eddie Brock transform before her eyes, growing several feet and sprouting more than a few extra limbs as well as a spit-slick set of far too many teeth. He was coated with what looked like a black oil slick… a shiny rippling skin that squelched and writhed as he moved. She saw him dive between her and the muzzle of the gun, soaking up the bullets greedily as he dove for the soldiers, tooth-fringed maw wide open. Bones crunched. Blood went everywhere as whatever Eddie had become tore into the nearest guard with claws and muscle…

And teeth. So many teeth...

Darcy screamed. She didn't really want to, but her brain and her body weren't really giving her a choice in terms of reaction to a black slime monster suddenly taking over her boss. And that caused the thing made of sticky darkness wheel around, its milky pupiless eyes fastening on her. 

"Go!" the black-coated thing roared, the command clear despite its voice sounding like the wet grind of a saw against bone. 

And well… she didn't need to be told twice. 

She tased the guard that had come in the door from the lobby, and sprinted past the front desk towards the exit. Out the door, into the parking lot and just… away. Far far away. She ran faster than she'd ever run in her life. Even being chased by Malekith and his minions around London was nothing compared to this. Her legs and lungs burned but she kept going as fast as she could.

And she ran far, turning down street after street until she had no idea where she was. She ran and ran, disorienting herself further and further, as if she could leave behind her the sound of gunfire and the sight of blood and the memory of the slickly rippling black shape that had overtaken Eddie. As if she could expel it from behind her eyes purely with distance.

But there would never be any unseeing that. No unseeing the slimy, prehensile tongue hanging out of that snarling maw. No unhearing the crunch of bones as they snapped like glow-sticks. 

And no denying that whatever it was had let her go. Somehow that was more concerning than anything else. She could probably blame Loki for that somehow in some therapy session many months hence. 

But for the moment, she wasn't looking that gift horse in its entirely too toothy mouth. She was going to run as far as her legs would carry her, and hopefully that place would have a stiff drink.

***

**Eddie.** Venom's voice growled in Eddie's thoughts as control of his body began to return to him once more. **We can't let her flee. If they find her then they'll kill her.** He felt his legs moving towards the door and he made it as far as the front desk to see Darcy sprinting like a spooked rabbit into the night.

"We'll tail her." Eddie said calmly. "Make sure she gets away clean."

**We should bring her back.** Venom argued.

"No. Trust me on this one." He insisted. "We'll tail her until she gets somewhere public where they won't mess with her. They'll be looking for us anyway. We'll make sure of it."

**But Eddie-**

"Venom. Darling, listen to me." He soothed, reaching up over his shoulder with one hand to beckon the symbiote to show themselves. They did, emerging with a squelch and pushing their face into Eddie's waiting palm. "We gotta let her go. She's got resources and can get herself out of Chicago if she wants. She's got big friends. Some of them bigger than us."

The creature was sullenly quiet for a moment, as they watched Darcy disappear into the dark. The omnipresent hunger that sat low in Eddie's ribs changed, and Eddie marked it. He pulled Venom's face close, nosing along the edge of their gums.

"Easy, Love. She'll be okay. We'll make sure she's okay."

There was another beat of sulking, thoughtful silence. **And if she doesn't come back?**

Eddie sighed. "Then… she doesn't come back."

**I like her.** Venom said, something keeping even their grating voice soft at the edges. 

Eddie smiled at that. It was sweet the way Venom developed crushes. And Venom sensed his host's amusement, bristling a little as they pressed even closer to the line of Eddie's jaw. 

"Come on, Sweetheart." He coaxed, kissing his symbiote's slick black face before releasing them and turning to the room full of bodies. "Let's have a bite and leave a mess so no one goes looking for Darcy, yeah? You always complain that I never let you decorate. I'll even let you drive?"

A dejected but acquiescing grunt filled Eddie's head as he felt Venom's influence flow back into his body, making his limbs snap to action and sending him pouncing on the nearest body with fluid precision. As the symbiote fully took over once more and his newly formed claws sank into the guard's ribs, Eddie distantly realized the guard had still been breathing.

Keywords: had been.

***


	4. Everything Else is Advertising

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Apparently, she'd lost them. 
> 
> She bounded to an ungainly stop when she ran out of breath, doubled over and pushed the heels of her hands into her eyes. Almost as if she could physically squeeze the memory of that slick black face from her head. With its drooling mouth and that creepy-ass tongue and that grating, growling voice as it had shouted at her...
> 
> It had told her to go. To run. And even more tellingly, it had let her. Her brain sort of ground to a halt on that one. She was used to things that looked like that chasing her.
> 
> Though one thing was for certain. When she bolted for the front door, the goons with guns hadn't seen her slip that standing file off the front desk into her jacket as she sprinted away. Black slime monster or no, that would have taken priority. She instinctively hugged her elbow in, feeling the cardboard of the folder give against her ribs, but it wasn't a comforting feeling. She almost regretting having grabbed it, because now she was responsible for whatever was inside.
> 
> Fuck.
> 
> She definitely needed to have a drink about this.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Monday everyone!
> 
> I hope this update finds you all well and warm this cold January day. Or at least, it's cold where I am... we're supposed to get snow tonight! Aaand now I have images of Venom experiencing snowfall for the first time and trying to catch snowflakes on their ridiculous tongue and...
> 
> Anyway! Fic update time!
> 
> Many thanks to my beta readers KaminaDuck, Musicnerd88, and now joining the fray is the amazing TenaciousAeolai! I couldn't have the confidence to do this without these guys!
> 
> And thank you all so so so much for all the wonderful comments and kudos you've showered on this fic. Seriously, it's been absolutely amazing to get such fantastic feedback. Please don't hesitate to reach out to me here or on Tumblr at @littlethingwithfeathers. Thank you again... it's really wonderful to see that people are excited about my little story.
> 
> And now... without further adieu...

***

“News is what someone wants suppressed. Everything else is advertising. The power is to set the agenda. What we print and what we don’t print matter a lot.” — Katharine Graham

***

Apparently, she'd lost them. Either those guards hadn't seen her slip down that alley at the end of the parking lot, or they were too preoccupied with whatever the fuck Eddie Brock had turned into and weren't too keen on looking for her just yet.

Or they'd been eaten. That was also a shudder-worthy possibility given the size of that thing's-.

Nevermind. Not going there. The point was, the people with guns hadn't followed her. And Eddie hadn't followed her either. Or whatever it was that Eddie had become.

She bounded to an ungainly stop when she ran out of breath, doubled over and pushed the heels of her hands into her eyes. Almost as if she could physically squeeze the memory of that slick black face from her head. With its drooling mouth and that creepy-ass tongue and that grating, growling voice as it had shouted at her...

It had told her to go. To run. And even more tellingly, it had let her. Her brain sort of ground to a halt on that one. She was used to things that looked like that chasing her.

Though one thing was for certain. When she bolted for the front door, the goons with guns hadn't seen her slip that standing file off the front desk into her jacket as she sprinted away. Black slime monster or no, that would have taken priority. She instinctively hugged her elbow in, feeling the cardboard of the folder give against her ribs, but it wasn't a comforting feeling. She almost regretting having grabbed it, because now she was responsible for whatever was inside.

Fuck.

She definitely needed to have a drink about this.

And, oh would you look at that. A dive bar still serving food right here on the corner where she'd stopped to catch her breath. Darcy, not one to question what was almost certainly fate, ducked inside without a second thought and found a booth in the far corner. It was relatively empty since it was a weeknight, but last call wasn't for a few hours yet according to the sign over the bar, so she'd have some time to think. The waitress was on her in an instant, scratching out her order for a Jack and Coke and some cheese fries. 

Yeah, that was totally going to help her think this through like an adult.

The drink came quickly, with a smile and a pet name from the waitress. So with brain anesthetic acquired, it was time to get down to business. First things first, Darcy thought to herself as she spun the faceted glass in her hands which had turned out to be mostly Jack and not a lot of Coke. What were her options at present? 

There was the obvious one, of course. She always had the option of just calling F.R.I.D.A.Y. and getting a ride. Bugged phones be damned at that point. Then it would just be a matter of finding the nearest metro station and getting to the airport. Easy peasy. She'd be leaving her clothes behind but her laptop was in her backpack which was with her. So all in all, not a huge loss. Then she could just scan the file she'd boosted and send it to Eddie. No reason for her to keep it if she wasn't working on the story anymore.

That's assuming Eddie was even Eddie at this point. 

That train of thought made her frown and take a very long pull on her drink.

Was she really bailing? On the one hand, it didn't seem like a half bad idea given how incredibly and unpredictably sideways everything had gone. The sudden appearance of a weird goo-monster aside, she had effectively been busted by private security for breaking and entering a government building. Or what she presumed was a government building. It might be best to get out of Dodge sooner rather than later. 

And then there was the whole… weird goo-monster thing, because like hell was she _actually_ putting that aside. She had no way to know what had really happened back there. She wasn't trying to deny what she saw, but it had all happened really fast. And adrenaline had a way of making details hazy. And seriously, who back at Avengers HQ was going to blame her for getting the fuck out of there once they heard the story? Assuming they even believed the story. 

Honestly, the universe was probably trying to tell her something. She should have bailed on Jane's madness a long time ago if she'd had any sense. Maybe this whole zoo was her second chance to learn that lesson. It was life screaming at her to learn some self-preservation for fuck's sake and get out while you still can! While you still haven't been struck by lightning, or fallen through a portal to the other side of fucking space, or been mulched by a feud between alien races, or eaten by an icky black slime monster. Get out while you can, dipshit.

Still… something about the cowardice of it rang hollow and soured her stomach. At least until she was distracted from her mulling by the arrival of her cheese fries. There were few things in this world that a pile of melted cheese couldn't fix, at least temporarily.

Unsurprisingly, she thought of Eddie while she ate, wondering morosely if he was okay. And more pointedly wondering what in the fuck had happened to him? What even _was_ he? Was that even the right question? Maybe something had been done to him? Was he like the Hulk or something but instead of turning green and big he got black and slimy? And… teethy?

God… too many teeth. Jesus.

Once her worries were thoroughly packed in cheese and carbohydrates, she ordered a second Jack and Coke. As she was taking her first sip, someone turned up the volume on the local news station, and she turned to listen as a young blonde woman in a primary red pantsuit chattered away in front of a local high school.

"Army recruitment numbers have more than doubled in the last year-"

 _Quadrupled._ Darcy corrected sullenly and silently as she pivoted to face the TV. She wisely took another fortifying sip of her drink as she continued to listen to the anchor.

"While some groups are concerned that the United States military is preying on underprivileged youth who have few options once they complete high school, others are singing a different tune."

They cut to a principal from a local high school. "Well, I think it's great, y'know?" He said, speaking earnestly but tugging compulsively on his cheap tie and looking everywhere but the camera. As if its very presence made him nervous. "These kids… the ones that couldn't get into one of the private schools in town? They don't have a lot of options once they finish up. If they finish up, y'know? A lot of 'em don't. And y'know, we can't give them a ton of options because we don't have the staff to cover stuff like advanced classes and vocational programs. Stuff they're gonna need. There's not the teachers cause there's no funding. So I think it's great that someone's offering some options."

The program cut back to the reporter. "This year the local recruiting office pioneered a brand new program in their efforts to boost recruitment. Waive your final year of high school and start training with the military right away as part of a work study program. Get a jump on experience and training, and most importantly to many of these young people who have been holding jobs since middle school to help ends meet at home, start drawing a paycheck immediately."

Another cut. This time to Clayton Tisdale in a super slick navy suit and an even slicker smile. Darcy had to fight not to gag a little. He'd smelled like an eighth grade locker room and she could almost taste the memory of that noxious cologne at the back of her throat. It probably still clung to her hands after that weird-ass handshake. 

_Gross._ She took another long sip of her drink, letting the whiskey percolate up into her nose a bit to singe the memory from her sinuses. Unconsciously, she wiped her palm on her jeans as she forced herself to listen.

"We're just happy to be able to give these kids a leg up." Tisdale was saying. "I mean there's nothing for them in their communities. Their local governments and state governments are failing them time and time again. Many of them come from single parent homes that are well below the poverty line. We are thrilled at the interest in this expansion of our program, and we hope to bring it to other major urban areas across the U.S. soon. Because Chicago is not the only city with youth in need of a hand up. We-"

He kept talking but Darcy tuned him out, turning back to her drink with a sullen sigh. This whole business reeked worse than Tisdale's God-awful cologne.

And there was something else she couldn't believe she hadn't really noticed until now. Tisdale wasn't wearing a military uniform. She'd seen him in a polo and jeans at the recruitment office. And now he was on the news in a suit with a ridiculously opulent tie and a fucking flag pin. But he wasn't wearing a single scrap of Army branding. That had a dozen alarm bells going off in her head. That was definitely not U.S. military protocol. She knew that much from her thesis work. Maybe… 

What if he wasn't military? It wasn't the first time that hypothesis had come up, but it was the first time she had evidence to back it up. What _if_ Tisdale wasn't military? That would explain so much. Particularly this "waive your final year of high school" business. What if it _was_ a P.M.C. or something similar?

Well, she had one way to possibly find out.

She pushed aside her empty plate and plopped the standing file down on the grimy tabletop.

The first few folders were just paperwork from new prospects. All pretty standard stuff, all on official Army letterhead. A couple of signed contracts with print too fine to read in the filmy barroom light, though to her somewhat practiced eye, everything seemed to be as it should be. But there was one thing did get her attention. A memo dated two months prior.

 

_Mr. Tisdale,_

_We have begun scaling up our testing efforts, and we appreciate your recruitment numbers keeping pace with our expanding needs. While we have so far been unsuccessful in reproducing previous results, we are confident that success will not elude us for long. It may be necessary in the coming months to branch out to other inner city areas to pipe candidates in so that we may continue our testing unabated. We hope that-_

 

Wait a sec.

She went back to the beginning and started over.

_We have begun scaling up our testing efforts._

Darcy read that line again. And again, just in case the dingy lights or her own paranoia was playing tricks on her. But yep. It said "testing efforts." Not training. Not recruitment. This was testing for something. It said it right there in black and white. 

Testing for _what?_

Of course the paper had no letterhead, and made no mention of any names or titles. After the initial update, the rest was just a bunch of fawning over Tisdale's recruitment efforts. And it was signed with initials. Because of course it was.

But it was something. Evidence that at least Tisdale was involved in something that was super sketch. And even more tellingly, it had addressed him as "Mr. Tisdale." No rank. That told her for certain that he was not current military which meant something was definitely up. And there was probably more than that… if… if she could get back to the hotel and show Eddie that-

Oh. 

Right.

She dropped her head to the table with a clunk that rattled the silverware.

Jesus fuck, it had been a long day. She could barely think straight and that had zero to do with the alcohol. In fact, contrary to common wisdom, the Jack was probably the only thing keeping her from having a total meltdown at this point.

She'd seen a lot of weird stuff in her very short life. Well okay, that wasn't strictly true. She'd seen a few really fucked up things, but she'd seen a lot more fucked up things on television since meeting Thor and Company. Like the Chitauri in New York. Sure, she wasn't there for that but her friends had been. Or a friend at least. So y'know… six degrees from the massive fucking alien invasion or whatever.

But today was definitely in the top three most fucked up days she'd had. So far, she was still behind facing down Malkith and his Dark Elf minions, but definitely ahead of that time she tased Thor, since there at least she'd had the upper hand. Or thought she had anyw-

"You alright, doll?" The waitress had appeared by her table and Darcy nearly jumped out of her skin.

"Yeah," she replied a little too brightly and a little too wide-eyed. "I'm… I'm good. Just…" She gestured to the folder. "Working."

The waitress arched one immaculately manicured eyebrow, barely sparing a glance at the papers. "At 2am in a bar on a Tuesday night?" she asked flatly.

Darcy laughed a little. What other response was there? "Yeah… I'm no fun."

"You look like you're trying to solve all the world's problems on your own." the waitress said, scooping up Darcy's empty plate and balancing it against her hip.

"Eh. Aren't we all sometimes?"

"Sometimes." The waitress agreed, laying Darcy's bill on the table. "Just try to make sure it's not all the time. Kay, doll?"

She smiled up at her then. "Kay."

Doll. Eddie had called her "doll." Oddly enough, despite the gruff exterior, he seemed to be one for cutesy sweet shit like pet names, and Darcy hadn't really considered herself someone in favor of it until now. There was nothing infantilizing or demeaning when he called her "doll." Just an affection that was both sweet and respectful. And just a little bit fond… kind of like this waitress.

Darcy found herself actually mourning it just a little. The idea that she was going to have to give this internship up made her unaccountably and unexpectedly sad. She and Eddie got on so well. It was such a shame that she was leaving...

Or was she?

She looked back down at the file on the table. There was a lot to parse through here, but it was a lead, however small and tenuous. And they didn't have a lead before now. There wasn't a whole lot she could do with it by herself though. She couldn't shoulder the world's problems alone and neither could Eddie, no matter what crazy fruit-loop powers he happened to have. Nor should he have to. If hanging around Captain America for more than five minutes had taught her anything, it was that. Steve Rogers… Fuck, that man needed a hug. And chocolate at the very least. So Eddie probably did too.

The chatter from the news report drifted into her brain again, ensnaring her attention once more. The principal was back, more earnest than ever as he forced himself to make eye contact with the camera. "We just don't want these kids left behind, y'know? They've got no one in a lot of cases. Fosters. Single parents that work three jobs. They need a leg up. They need help."

Darcy looked down at the memo in the folder, eyes narrowing as she read the first line again.

_... scaling up our testing efforts._

Yeah, fuck that. She'd said she was in. She was in. Fucking weird black slime be damned. She'd figure out how to roll with it just like she had all the other weirdness in her life.

She paid her tab, left a twenty for the waitress, and headed out the door to find someplace with Reeses cups. Then she'd find a metro station that would take her back to the hotel and hopefully to Eddie. 

***


	5. Not Such a Terrible Thing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Darcy could tell Eddie was still in the hotel room when she got back. The light was on but the curtains were drawn tight, and she could see his shadow flitting restlessly around the room. So she gathered her courage and knocked smartly on the door. As she rocked back on her heels, it cracked an inch to show one cautious but familiar and very human eye.
> 
> "Hey Eddie. It's just me." she said softly, suddenly feeling really guilty when she saw the relief flood his face as he threw the door open and yanked her inside. 
> 
> He gave the parking lot a wary once-over before he closed the door behind them with a slam. "Jesus, I'm so glad you're okay." He took her by the elbows, giving her a quick looking-over before flinging his arms around her.
> 
> Darcy was a little shocked at the hug at first, but mostly she was just grateful that he wasn't angry with her. He'd clearly been scared shitless, and this was as much for him as it was for her. His arms were strong and the hug was tight. Like… when Thor would give her a big bear hug. Or Steve. Like…
> 
> Oh.
> 
> Right.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Monday everyone!
> 
> Hope your week is off to a good start! I've been very excited to post this chapter. The conversation towards the end is one of the first things I ever put down in regards to this story, and barring a few adjustments for canon and plot, it's largely been unchanged from the original idea. 
> 
> Many thanks to my beta readers KaminaDuck, musicnerd88, and TenaciousAeiolai. Please note that often times I continue editing after they've seen it, so sometimes spelling and grammar mistakes persist. If you find small errors like that, please let me know! And thank you to those who have done so already.
> 
> And speaking of thanks, thank you to everyone reading this, and especially to those who leave me excited and encouraging comments. Seriously, I had no idea this pairing would have an audience (though it seemed obvious as hell to me...) and I've been so thrilled to hear how much everyone is enjoying it and looking forward to updates. So thank you!!! And feel free to stop by my Tumblr and say hi! I love to talk about fanfic and writing. And I don't bite... often.
> 
> And now... on to the chapter! Enjoy! See you next week!

***

“A monster is not such a terrible thing to be. From the Latin root monstrum, a divine messenger of catastrophe, then adapted by the Old French to mean an animal of myriad origins: centaur, griffin, satyr. To be a monster is to be a hybrid signal, a lighthouse: both shelter and warning at once.” — Ocean Vuong, from “A Letter To My Mother That She Will Never Read”, published in The New Yorker

***

Darcy could tell Eddie was still in the hotel room when she got back. The light was on but the curtains were drawn tight, and she could see his shadow flitting restlessly around the room. So she gathered her courage and knocked smartly on the door. As she rocked back on her heels, it cracked an inch to show one cautious but familiar and very human eye.

"Hey Eddie. It's just me." she said softly, suddenly feeling really guilty when she saw the relief flood his face as he threw the door open and yanked her inside. 

He gave the parking lot a wary once-over before he closed the door behind them with a slam. "Jesus, I'm so glad you're okay." He took her by the elbows, giving her a quick looking-over before flinging his arms around her.

Darcy was a little shocked at the hug at first, but mostly she was just grateful that he wasn't angry with her. He'd clearly been scared shitless, and this was as much for him as it was for her. His arms were strong and the hug was tight. Like… when Thor would give her a big bear hug. Or Steve. Like…

Oh.

Right.

"I'm fine. I'm completely fine." she replied burying her face against his soft gray hoodie, reassuring herself that he felt human. Just… stronger than the average bear. Literally in this case. But she reminded herself that Thor's strength felt safe. So did Cap's. She could feel safe now. Eddie had been worried. Really really worried. And whatever that black slime monster was, it was gone right now. So she breathed against the pressure, pushing her ribs out and feeling the tight squeeze. Letting it ground her in the moment. Letting it prompt her to squeeze him back. Letting herself not be scared. 

"I would have called but… y'know we aren't sure the phones are clean so…" She pulled back to look at him. Really look at him. And strangely, she had to swallow down the impulse to touch his face. No hints of black slime or weird teeth or those strange, pupil-less eyes. He looked just like he did when he'd picked her up at the airport only… he looked _exhausted._ Like… "four exams in one day and two more tomorrow so I'm pulling an all-nighter for the third time this week" kind of exhausted. "Are you okay?" she asked, feeling both small and stupid for asking, but she couldn't stop herself. Those were the best words she could find to wrap around what she felt.

He laughed gently, the sound rumbling all around her as he pulled her in for another quick hug. "I'm fine, doll. You don't gotta worry about me." he said the words coming out on an absurd chuckle as he released her, shepherding her further into the room before locking the door behind them. Both chain and deadbolt.

He had ordered takeout again, she noticed. Piles and piles of empty white cartons stacked up on the coffee table. Suddenly that made sense now. She remembered how much food Steve and Thor put away to power their super-duper metabolisms. She should have picked up on it…

But even then... this? This seemed different somehow.

"I'm thinking that… I should change hotels tonight." Eddie said softly. "Get a little ways out of the center of town. I just… didn't want to pack up shop until I gave you a chance to check in. If you were gonna, y'know? Wouldn't have… wouldn't have blamed you if you didn't." He hung his head, fiddling with the frayed hem of his hoodie.

Darcy did give in to the compulsion to touch him then. To cup his elbow or tuck a finger under his chin to make him look at her. She did neither of those things, opting to stuff her hands into her pockets for safekeeping. "No, look I appreciate it. Seriously."

"I just… y'know, I don't want-"

"We don't want a lot of people around if… if they come after us. I get it." She finished for him. "I've… been around Avengers HQ long enough to overhear this part of Avengers planning meetings. Let me get packed."

He shot her a flat, appraising look. "That is… I mean if you want to stay. I totally get if you don't."

"I'm staying." She replied, stopping and squaring her shoulders a little.

"Seriously, Darcy. You don't- if… if you want-"

She let out a sigh that sounded more irritated than she'd wanted it to. "The fuck do you mean "if I want to stay." I didn't come all the way back here just to come here to pick up my shit. I'm… I'm still in, Eddie. I just… yeah, I've never seen anything like… like that? Okay?" she gestured up and down Eddie's frame. "Never seen anything like that that wasn't also trying to eat me. So, I'm sorry I freaked out."

Eddie nodded a humorless smile pulling at his face. "I should be the one apologizing. And in retrospect, I probably should have told you. So… I'm sorry. I didn’t expect a firefight."

"No, it’s… it’s cool. I mean… neither of us got hurt right? And all the bad guys did. So, y'know, that's a win where I come from these days." she shoved her hands in her back pockets again. "I’ve learned to appreciate the luxury of being alive to be scared, and quite literally running with it. And I'm not a fighter, so my fight-or-flight instincts are heavily calibrated towards flight."

He laughed. "I guess Avengers territory will do that to you."

"Yeah… Life with those guys will uh… It'll calibrate you alright." she said with a slow shake of her head. "I’ve been chased by aliens… fucked around with extra-dimensional Convergence bullshittery… And there was that one time Jane got possessed by the literal essence of reality so … that was neat. Oh! And fun story? I tased Thor the first time I met him."

Eddie gave a hoarse cough of laughter. "You tased the guy with the lightning hammer?"

"To be fair I had no idea who he was, and he didn’t have his powers at the time," she said, holding up a finger. "But yes. I tased the guy with the lightning hammer. Twice."

Eddie's smile grew teeth. Nice, normal teeth. "You just tase first and ask questions later?"

She lifted one shoulder in a shrug. "It’s kept me alive so far." A question dawned on Darcy then, and it was charging full tilt out of her mouth before she could stop it. "Would a taser even do anything to you?"

He seemed to take it in stride with a shrug of his own. "Hurt like hell." he replied before his mouth twisted in a shade of that smirk that Darcy was starting to feel certain wasn't entirely his. "Maybe give you a head start."

Darcy valiantly suppressed a shudder that was only partially fear and mostly, to her surprise, rampant curiosity.

If Eddie noticed, he didn't show it. "Come on." he said, heading to grab his bag. "We should get out of here."

***

Their new hotel was just outside of the city and thus was a little nicer for the money. Two queen size beds and a mini fridge. Free wifi. And a 24 hour liquor store right across the street.

"Do you drink?" Eddie asked leaning out onto the little balcony where Darcy stood facing east. The sun was rising. Seemed a shame to miss it. Especially since they had a pretty breathtaking view of the Chicago skyline.

"Like a fish." she said, tossing the quip over her shoulder.

"Here." He joined her at the railing, passing her a beer and the bottle opener attached to his keys. "Sorry it’s not something better. The package store hasn't really caught onto microbrews."

She gave him a tired but genuine smile. "It’s alright. College student, remember? Breakfast of champions right here." She popped it open, returned his keys, and clinked her bottle with his. "Cheers."

He nodded in kind before taking two long pulls of his bottle.

They were both quiet a long time, watching the jagged line of the distant skyline slowly sharpen against the graying sky. Darcy swallowed questions at least half a dozen times as they nursed their beers. She wasn't sure where to even begin. And just a general "So what the fuck even?" seemed rude. But it also wasn't a subject they were going to be able to ignore. So...

“It’s called a symbiote.” Eddie said finally, the silence shattering like sugar glass.

_Oh thank God,_ Darcy thought. She took a moment and wracked her brain for any instance of hearing that word around Avengers HQ but to no avail. 

"It?" she replied in a carefully neutral tone.

"The… yeah. It’s a symbiote." Eddie said, picking at the label of the bottle with a blunt thumbnail. "It’s… this is not like the Avengers’ superpowers. It’s… this is alive. It's… a part of me. We… we work together."

"Okay." Darcy said, swallowing that information along with a mouthful of beer. Not the weirdest thing she's heard, but definitely up there along with all that Aether business. But he was clearly in a mood to talk about it, so she didn't want to squander what might be the only opportunity. "Where… where did it come from?"

"They live on comets. That shit-sucker that ran the LIFE Foundation found them and brought some to Earth to experiment with. They can live on Earth, but only with a compatible host. They die without one."

"And that’s you? You're its host?"

"Yep." he said, taking another swig.

"Is it… like sentient?"

"Yes."

"And you don't control it?"

"Not strictly speaking no."

"Does it control you?"

"It… it can… but it doesn't. At least not all the time. We… share the wheel. What you saw at the recruitment center was me letting them drive, so to speak."

"Are there others?"

"On the comet? Yes. On Earth… I'm hoping the answer is what it should be which is no. But I can't say for sure."

Darcy nodded. "Does… Is it hurting you?"

The corner of his mouth quirked into a small smile as he shook his head. "No. I mean they could, but they don't."

"Does…" She paused and pressed her lips together. "Do they have a name?"

Eddie cut her a look as he marked her choice of phrasing. A strange wary sort of fondness mixed with something else… A sort of seriousness she didn't really have a name for. And for a second she was overwhelmed by that sensation again… that the expression wasn't just Eddie's reaction. He regarded her silently for long enough that she began to think she wasn't going to get an answer, but then he looked away again. And as his eyes scanned the sky, he sighed out a name.

"Venom." He said. "Their… _our_ name is Venom."

Darcy nodded, not quite sure what to say. That distinction seemed important. "They" and "Our." Now it was getting weird. Even for her. "Sorry for all the questions." she settled on saying, as she picked studiously at the label on her bottle.

"No no… it's fine. I really don't mind." Eddie shrugged. "I…I probably should have told you in retrospect. Should've assumed… I don't know…"

Another silence passed, during which the sun rose, peeking its dull orange face through the smoggy haze.

"What's it like?" Darcy asked. "Since you said you don't mind questions."

"Having a symbiote?"

"Yeah?"

His face pulled in a ironic smile. "I never get a moment's peace." 

His tone made her think the comment should have been funny, so she at least tried to smile past her bewilderment. "So… I mean do they… does Venom talk to you?"

He nodded. "All the time." he said before breaking out in a snicker.

"What's funny?"

"Nothing just… Venom gets bristly if they… nevermind." he shook his head, but the smile stayed. A fond smile, she noted.

And that actually made Darcy smile. Really smile for the first time that night. She draped her forearms over the bannister and inched a little closer so that she could elbow him. "No, I'm curious now. What does one chat about with the alien that you share a body with?"

"We don't… talk exactly." Eddie said with a vague, swaying nod. "They can see and hear everything so we just… kind of are. It's a little like living life with a running commentary."

"So… Venom can hear me. See me right now?"

Eddie nodded, glancing over at her before dropping his gaze to the asphalt again. "Mmmhmm…"

She licked her lips as she searched for something… anything to say in response to that. "Hi then, I guess. Wow, that's… that's really cool. I mean, it's… it is cool right? Having a buddy like that?" Darcy wasn't sure why she asked. Was a straight answer even possible?

"It took some getting used to." Eddie admitted. "But… I'll also admit that it's… it's nice. It's gotten to be nice. Even putting aside the bullet absorption and being nigh invincible? It's been nice." 

She was fairly sure that "nice" was the understatement of the century because there was that smile. And it was his smile, she was sure. Not that twist of lips that made her feel both excited and uneasy. And she mirrored it as she knocked back the last of her beer. "Anything else I should know about Venom?"

Eddie shrugged. "Doesn't like fire. Doesn't like a certain frequency of sound. Have to feed him every once in awhile. Like… really feed him. I usually go find some scummy lowlife beating his wife or something."

Her eyes widened by a fraction at that. "And you eat them?"

He nodded, rolling the beer bottle between his palms. "Yep."

"So… I assume you ate those guys back at the recruitment office."

He took another drink. "One or two."

She pressed her lips together and gave a shake of her head. "Fair enough."

He cut her a frowning glance. "You're not bothered by it?"

"Honestly? You should see Captain America beat the shit out of a HYDRA goon. He can get down right vindictive. At least you recycle your kills."

Eddie snorted at that before polishing off his drink. "You done with yours?" He held out his hand for her bottle.

"Yeah, thanks." she said passing it to him.

"Anything else you want to know?"

"So when you're not eating people, you just eat a lot of whatever?"

"Yeah. Venom likes chocolate." he said with a wry smile.

She gave a cough of sputtering laughter, surprising them both with the sound. "You're kidding."

"Right hand to God." Eddie responded with that capacious grin of his. "Likes chocolate and tater tots."

"Hang on, in that case." Darcy said putting up a finger and scurrying back inside to dig in her backpack. She returned a moment later with her bag of Reeses cups in hand. 

"No way." He said, his a sweetly surprised smile growing on his lips and making his slate colored eyes sparkle. 

"Call it a peace offering. Now it really is the breakfast of champions." she said, tearing the bag open with her teeth and offering to him first.

"Thanks, doll." He said, digging a couple chocolates out.

"You're welcome, man. Sorry for running off and scaring the shit out of you."

"Sorry we scared the shit out of you first." He shot her a sidelong look. "You're seriously sticking around?"

"You shared your beer with me. I shared my chocolate with you and your shotgun-riding friend. And we both managed to be shot at tonight and not die. Where I've been for the last couple of years, we may as well have signed a blood pact."

He laughed again. The second time in five minutes. Darcy marked it as progress from where they'd started the night.

"Look Eddie. I said I was game and I'm still game." Darcy said firmly, speaking to the chocolate she was unwrapping. "I came back to apologize for freaking out, but… and maybe I should have led with this… but I also came back because I made it out of the recruitment office with a stack of papers that are going to help us get to the bottom of this."

He blinked at that, the smile on his face rivalling the sunrise. "You did?"

"I did." she said, making herself look up at him now as she offered him the bag of candy again. "And I'm still in."

He pouted his soft lips in consideration and nodded, digging around for a few more chocolates. "Then lets get some sleep and we'll get to work in the… well…" He squinted into the sunrise. "Later today."

"Okay." Darcy said, watching as he turned and headed back inside. She felt a sudden urge to ask to… _see_ the creature again. To see Venom and actually know something of what she was looking at this time. But she swallowed the impulse, along with another peanut butter cup for good measure. There might be time for that later. For questions and curiosity about things other than the article. 

But right now she was only really curious about her pillow.

***


	6. Hold Up the Mirror

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "What do you two feel like for dinner tonight?" Darcy asked giving a languorous stretch from her seat on the floor where she was combing through correspondence between some of the missing recruits and their families and friends.
> 
> Eddie shot her a lazy smirk, feeling Venom perking up and looking out at her from behind his eyes. They liked it when Darcy talked about them collectively. Eddie hadn't told her such, but he gathered that she'd surmised it, because she kept doing it with this knowing glint in her eyes.
> 
> "We picked for lunch." he said, threading his fingers together behind his head. "It's your turn."
> 
> "We still haven't tried the Indian place down a couple blocks." she suggested.
> 
> "Oooh… Y'know what? Yeah, that sounds great."
> 
> "Sweet." she replied, digging in her pocket for her phone. "Any requests? Either of you?"
> 
> Eddie pushed out his bottom lip and shook his head. "Nah. Just a giant pile of curry. Something with meat."
> 
> "You like spicy or no?"
> 
> "How do you usually get yours?"
> 
> "Somewhere between face-melting and intracranial supernova." She grinned.
> 
> "Ugh. That sounds amazing. I'll have the same. And extra naan."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Monday, everyone!
> 
> Apologies for being a little late. Life has been crazy since it's tech week for the show I'm lighting. But it's all good!
> 
> Just as a warning, this is where the fic takes a right turn into NSFW land. Just so you know what you're about to read in public, because let's be honest, we've all done it.
> 
> Thank you all so much for all the wonderful comments and conversations that have sprung up! I can't tell you how good it makes me feel to get to field questions about my writing or see interesting articles related to the story Eddie and Darcy are working on. I did a good bit of research beforehand but I've been hit with some stuff I never even considered and that's AMAZING! Thank you all so so so much! Feel free to come hunt me down on Tumblr too if you'd like to chat or see more of what I'm posting and thinking about. I also post writing updates for current and future projects. 
> 
> Also a big thank you to my beta readers KaminaDuck, TenaciousAeolai, and musicnerd88. I couldn't do this without your help!
> 
> See you guys next week with another chapter!
> 
> Enjoy!

***

"Our job is only to hold up the mirror - to tell and show the public what has happened." - Walter Cronkite

***

Three days zipped by in rapid succession. Waking hours were spent researching and writing and consuming lots and lots of take-out. And also with Darcy trying to be as polite as possible when asking questions about Venom. Eddie had invited the inquiry, but Darcy still did her best to be delicate about it.

"Can you feel them?" she asked one morning as they walked to get coffee at the service station. "Like just… normally? I guess? When you're walking around or whatever?"

"Yeah… all the time at first, but now it's only when I think about it, or if they want my attention. It's sort of like… my blood's too thick? If that makes sense?"

She'd pulled a face. "It doesn't, but okay…"

Another question while they cut some video. "You said Venom talks to you?"

"Yeah."

"So like… what do they say?"

"Mostly just… comment on stuff. They… they can be very judgy. What? It's true! Don’t act like it’s not.” 

That last had been delivered in the vague direction of the ceiling and Darcy could only assume he was addressing Venom. That had made her laugh.

Another question over another round of takeout. “What’s it like when Venom takes over?”

“It’s …" Eddie waffled on his answer for a moment. "Y'know how people talk about out of body experiences? Where they can see themselves and are watching themselves do things but they aren’t actually doing them? Or you have that dream where you're watching yourself?”

“Yeah.”

“It’s… a little like that except I’m still in my body. It’s a little claustrophobic til you get used to it.”

“Can you still talk to Venom? When they're… driving?”

“Yeah, except I’m in their head, not the other way around.”

“What does their voice sound like?”

That question had given both man and symbiote pause, and Eddie felt Venom peering curiously out of his eyes at her. “They’re… it was really shocking at first. Their voice was loud in my head… and heavy sounding? If that’s a thing? It’s… it’s like everything else. Took some getting used to.”

“Worth getting used to?”

Eddie smiled then. A fond twist of his mouth that was far more eloquent than his actual answer. “More than worth it.”

Despite inquisitive distractions, Eddie and Darcy made a good amount of headway on their research. Between the recording of Darcy's interview-turned-intimidation session at the recruitment office and Eddie's sources on the street, plus the hard numbers Eddie had gleaned from stats on the internet, they had a good frame for their argument that something very fishy was going on. Add to that the mounting evidence that many of these newly minted soldiers were disappearing before they had completed basic, and the article was practically writing itself.

However, they were still stuck on Eddie's original point. Even with the evidence of the memo (which without official letterhead or names, it could be easily dismissed), there was no way to know exactly what was being done with these kids once they passed into (and presumably out of) the military's hands. Where they were going. What was happening to them. And most importantly, who was behind it. The U.S. military was involved on some level, that much was certain. But it wasn't just them. It couldn't be. There was far too much oversight for them to get away with pulling in this many illegally underage recruits. Someone should have caught something by now.

So they kept laboring away on those points, running up on dead end after dead end.

***

"What do you two feel like for dinner tonight?" Darcy asked giving a languorous stretch from her seat on the floor where she was combing through correspondence between some of the missing recruits and their families and friends.

Eddie shot her a lazy smirk, feeling Venom perking up and looking out at her from behind his eyes. They liked it when Darcy talked about them collectively. Eddie hadn't told her such, but he gathered that she'd surmised it, because she kept doing it with this knowing glint in her eyes.

"We picked for lunch." he said, threading his fingers together behind his head. "It's your turn."

"We still haven't tried the Indian place down a couple blocks." she suggested.

"Oooh… Y'know what? Yeah, that sounds great."

"Sweet." she replied, digging in her pocket for her phone. "Any requests? Either of you?"

Eddie pushed out his bottom lip and shook his head. "Nah. Just a giant pile of curry. Something with meat."

"You like spicy or no?"

"How do you usually get yours?"

"Somewhere between face-melting and intracranial supernova." She grinned.

"Ugh. That sounds amazing. I'll have the same. And extra naan."

"Oh don't worry. I'm getting all of the naan and I'm eating every bit of it."

"We'll see about that." he shot back with a playful arch of his eyebrow.

Darcy returned the smug look in kind as she pulled herself to her feet. "Alright. I'll be back in a bit."

Both Eddie and Venom watched her go, the symbiote palpably peering out from behind their host's eyes until the door closed. When the latch clicked, Eddie exhaled a breath he'd been only vaguely aware he'd been holding and stretched, feeling Venom flow and ripple under his skin with something like relief. They had enjoyed Darcy's presence, often rumbling approvingly whenever Darcy would playfully snipe back and forth with Eddie. But for the last few days… ever since the incident at the recruiting office, the symbiote had laid low so as not to alarm Darcy. Hadn't so much as poked a single tooth or tentacle out in days, and it had left them both feeling understandably restless. Both for each other and just for a little space. 

The thought that they were alone settled over Eddie's mind almost immediately. For the first time since Darcy had arrived. A moment of privacy… A moment for...

**My thoughts exactly.** Venom's voice coiled sinuously through Eddie's mind like tendril of candle smoke through still air.

"Psh. You're insatiable."

**No more so than you, Eddie.** They bit back, a toothy smile in their tone. **And I do believe you thought it first?**

Eddie sighed and almost laughed. But he could feel his want twining together with his fondness for Venom as both wormed their way through his mind and body. "You want me to show you a good time, do you?" he asked.

**I want you to show US a good time.** Venom replied. **We both need it. Don't you agree?**

He snorted at Venom's purposefully and comedically hamfisted attempt at manipulation as he hauled himself off the couch and headed for the shower. He started the water and stripped down as it warmed and began to thicken the air with swirling steam. When he stepped under the spray, his cock was already at half mast just from the anticipation alone. He didn't even bother to wash first before he took himself in hand. Eddie just turned his face up to the spray and gave himself a long, slow stroke. He could feel his pulse jump… his length turn thick and heavy in his hand as all his blood spiraled downward. And he could feel a flush spreading over his skin that had nothing to do with the heat of the water and everything to do with Venom spinning out into his blood like a drug. 

All with just the barest beginnings of sensation. Just a little pressure in just the right place...

Venom was right. They both needed this, and Eddie didn't want to make either of them wait that long, though he was far from in a hurry.

Eddie didn't used to draw this out. Never was a tease to just himself. Why would he be? This had always been a routine. Just get it over and done with so the itch was gone and he could get on with whatever he was about to do. Or go to sleep.

But now? God, he loved this part. The build up. The anticipation before he got to the brink. He'd hold himself there as long as he could. Drag it out, because he could feel Venom best in that handful of moments just as his heart started to race. They were liquid and almost feline, slipping and slithering just under the surface. They wouldn't fully slide out from under Eddie's skin until he was closer. The symbiote was content to stay close… stay inside and luxuriate in the slowly building tide of pleasure, almost as if it were a bath. Rolling… rippling… positively savoring every sensation...

The first time Eddie had ever done this with "company" it had been awkward. It had been weeks since he'd touched himself. He was not at all ready to try and have what basically amounted to a sex talk with an alien that was only just becoming used to having a body. _His_ body more specifically. So naturally, he'd woken up one morning rock hard and already rutting into the sheets. And Venom had of course been awake already, fascinated by the way that the undulating rolls of his hips sent sweet zings of pleasure out into his blood. And of course that made it hard to concentrate once Eddie was actually awake. Venom really was a chatterbox when they were curious. And "curious" was putting it very very mildly. 

So it, like everything else, had taken some getting use to.

But now it was a practiced dance. Venom swam just below the surface of his body and mind alike, appreciative growls and encouragements filling Eddie's thoughts and rattling his ribs. He'd missed the near omnipresence of their voice during Darcy's stay... Making suggestions. Egging him on by painting details and observations onto the vague outline of his forming fantasies...

Like he was now.

**You're thinking about her.**

"Wh-who?" Eddie stammered, his arm still flexing as he stroked himself steadily from root to tip.

**Darcy.** Venom's thick growl coated her name like syrup. Made it sound like candy. Made Eddie wonder what it would taste like in his own mouth if he moaned it aloud. What _she_ would taste like if-

Eddie shook his head, mostly to clear it. Venom hadn't been wrong. They most definitely were not wrong, but that wouldn't be-

**I bet she would be lovely.** Venom savored the word, and Eddie could feel their want all the way down in his toes. But he couldn't blame that sensation on them completely...

Eddie scrunched his eyes shut as he shook his head. "No… no, Venom. We… we can't. She's young. She's… she's got her whole life ahead of her." But even as he denied it, he couldn't stop the flow of half formed images and ideas. Ideas that translated to a tighter grip on his cock. A slightly faster pace as a sweetly heavy pleasure began to settle lower and lower in his core. Some of those images he knew he could blame on Venom… but there were others… "She wouldn't know what she's getting into."

**Tch. She is not so naive. She came back after all. Maybe it wasn't just the story...**

"We _can't,_ Venom." Eddie ground the words out from between his teeth, the muscles in his arm flexing as he sped up his strokes. It was such a dangerously alluring thought though… That she'd come back for something other than the internship. "Fuck knows, I'd want to but-"

There was a gruff snort of a growl. **Then what's the harm in a little thought?**

"I'd rather think about you." Eddie said, the last few words coming out on a whine as he tightened his grip further. "You… you gonna help me out or are you just going to watch this time?"

Venom gave a humoring purr that Eddie felt from his ribs to his toes, and his cock jumped in his hand. 

**I was trying to help, but you didn't seem to like my idea.** Venom replied with a mocking sort of sullenness. 

"Venom…" Eddie tried to sound disapproving, but the needy whine in his voice undermined his efforts.

**And you did not answer my question, Eddie. What's the harm in a little thought? In thinking how sweet she smells…**

He let out a little cough of laughter as he wrung a drop of precome from his throbbing cock. "She smells good to you, huh?"

**Yesss…** the word hissed out, sibilant and almost cloying in Eddie's skull. **And she's clever. I think she might be the only one to be able to keep up with us. And she brought us chocolate.**

Eddie chuckled again at that, but the sound choked off as the veins in his arm bulged and turned black. He felt his fingers grow numb and his muscles began to flex of their own accord. "Venom…" he half moaned the name aloud as a soft wet sound announced that the symbiote had finally come out to play.

**She's sweet.** Venom's needle-sharp teeth pressed to the shell of his ear as he purred deep and low. **We could hold her for you. Cradle the both of you.**

"She'd… she'd never…" Eddie could feel a shameful blush creeping up his face for even considering it. But now he couldn't unsee it as slick black tendrils spread from his working hand, engulfing his length. Twisting. Tightening. Pulling the tension just so. And hungry thoughts spread like viscous smoke in his mind. How might that blackness look splayed out on her skin? Venom's darkness melting across her body like candle wax. Venom _touching_ her... 

He knew he shouldn’t be thinking this. He gritted his teeth and tried to rein it in but to no avail. Eddie’s protest fractured into a long drawn out moan, half from frustration and half from pure need. He chased the sensation, hips bucking against Venom's touch.

But Venom wasn't hearing any part of it spoken aloud or no. Nor was he giving in to Eddie's wordless demands. **Don't underestimate someone like that.** They replied, their tongue delicately licking drops of water from the dip of his collarbones. **And don't underestimate us. What if she let us have her?**

"Venom… Darling, don't tease." Eddie begged.

Venom snorted, but didn't give in. They just kept the same steady, slippery pressure that they knew would keep Eddie right at the brink. **You like it when I tease you. I wonder if she's a tease. Can you imagine what a tease she could be, Eddie?**

Eddie let out an undignified and desperate whine. He loved the way Venom said his name. Loved it like nothing else. "Please…"

**Is this how you'd like it then?**

"H-hold me…" the words had to be fairly shaken out from behind Eddie's teeth as a full body shudder overtook him. "Darling, please."

**Mmm…** The symbiote hummed in his ear. **Whatever you want, Love.**

There were more wet noises that melded with the sounds of the shower as Venom fully emerged from his shoulders and carefully arranged Eddie on the tile wall, cradling him and holding him upright just so. And his legs were gently spread by tentacles so that more could join the ones tugging insistently and perfectly around his length. And Eddie just went limp when his feet left the floor, knowing Venom would hold him up. That he could just enjoy this. Like he enjoyed so many things in their relationship. He'd learned to truly relax with Venom coursing through his veins. Even to the point that Venom could envelop him entirely as he was slowly doing now. Not possession. It wasn't the same. This was an inky black veil… a cocoon that blocked out the rest of the world. Warm slickness caressing everywhere. A steady, tight pull around his cock slowly driving him crazy. And a sinuous tongue down his throat until air was a distant memory. 

He didn't need it anyway. He didn't need anything but his Venom. He was weightless like this... Pleasured and free. But also contained. Cared for. He didn't need to move, or see, or even breathe. He needed only to relax and just be.

Eddie had no idea how long he was suspended there against the wall, moaning and limp as Venom coaxed out an orgasm so strong that stars burst across his doubly occluded vision. He couldn't move, but he wasn't sure he ever wanted to again. He just wanted to exist here in the cocoon of Venom's slick black presence. Warm, weightless, and completely spent as Venom sipped delicately at the pleasure that spun out into his blood… happy to experience the ecstasy it had wrought as well as consume it. Eddie was content to just be held and rocked by the symbiote that called him home.

**I want you to be happy, Eddie.** Venom whispered as they slowly set him down, making sure his legs were cooperating before letting go entirely.

"I know, Love, I know." Eddie panted, stretching a little as Venom slithered back into their hiding place just beneath his skin. "I want us to be happy too."

Venom was quiet for a long time as Eddie quickly finished showering, though Eddie could hear them thinking. Gnawing on their conversation like a dog with a bone. Once he'd shut off the water and started drying off, he heard their voice again.

**Darcy makes us happy.** They said, emerging again and resting their head on Eddie's shoulder, sounding almost as if the thought surprised them. **Because she is smart. And she smells sweet. And she brings us chocolate.**

Eddie smiled at that; a goofy and rather orgasm-stupid grin at the idea that his symbiote had a crush. He kissed the creature on the face fondly. "I know, Love. I agree."

**It is not enough that we simply like her, is it?** the statement came out as a question, and the innocence of it rattled in the cage of Eddie's ribs.

"No, it isn't always. Remember Annie?" he said softly, and Venom made a pitiful little sound prompting Eddie to tuck the symbiote's head under his chin. "But I'll tell you this. Things like this take time. Timing is everything."

**Timing.** Venom repeated, pink tongue lolling out of their mouth as if to taste the word.

"Right. So once this project is over and she isn't my intern anymore… we'll see where we stand. I'll ask her out for dinner or something. Deal?"

**Deal.** Venom replied with what passed for a curt little nod before they turned to look Eddie square on with their uncanny milk-white eyes. Their tongue, still waving and flicking in the steamy air, came up to lick a drop of water from Eddie's cheek. **I love you, Eddie.**

"I love you too, Darling." Eddie replied, leaning over to plant a chastely affectionate kiss against Venom's slick, narrow face, just above their ranks of curved teeth. "Come on… let's see if dinner's here yet."

***

As it turned out, the Indian place had an app. Sweet. God bless modern technology and the eternal Millennial desire to speak to as few strangers as possible. As Darcy plodded down the street, she typed in the frankly ludicrous order for the two of them. It was enough food to feed the entire lab staff back at Avengers HQ, but thankfully she wouldn't be stuck waiting on it forever.

There and back; fifteen minutes tops.

She even swung by the gas station and picked up a bag of assorted chocolate bars. She should probably figure out how to ask if Venom had a preference. Maybe she could just… ask? They could hear her after all so… But would that be rude? Or presumptive? Maybe Venom didn't want to talk to her? Or maybe Eddie would be weird about being a messenger boy between the two of them. Or being talked around. Regardless, she was going to laugh if the pitch-black slime monster from beyond the furthest stars liked dark chocolate. 

Seriously, no one back home was going to believe this. Even if she was inclined to tell them, which she very much wasn't.

She returned to their room laden with sacks of curry and naan, awkwardly elbowing her way back into the hotel room to be greeted by the sound of running water. Oh yeah… shower time. That was smart. She should probably do the thing with the indoor rain toy too after dinner so her hair would have time to dry before bed and she wouldn't look like an electrocuted Chia Pe-

A guttural moan made its way through the staticky sound of running water and Darcy nearly dropped the container of curry she was holding.

_Oh my._

Well… this was awkward. But two people living in proximity together… makes sense that he'd take advantage while she was out. She probably would've too in his position. He must've not expected her to be back so quick, but the app and-

"Venom…" Eddie's voice unmistakably pleaded. "Darling, don't tease."

That did make her drop the bag she was holding. Thankfully, it was full of naan and not curry.

Was he… he was, wasn't he? _They_ were, weren't they? No way she'd misheard that...

Nope. Nnnnope, Darcy was a pro at this. She'd had _that_ college roommate and she'd _been_ that college roommate. She'd been party to the sock-on-the-door-handle message from both sides of the bedroom door. It was fine. This was fine. Everything was fine. This was in no way different from all those other times except in all the ways it was so incredibly different. But nevermind. She could handle this. 

Just… yeah, earbuds in ears.

Volume on max.

ITunes on shuffle. (Britney Spears's "Toxic" up first? Really, Steve Jobs? REALLY?)

There. Problem solved. She'd heard nothing. NOTHING.

Not a damn thing.

Just sort the curry out. Think about literally anything else. Like the case. Or Steve Rogers's abs. Anything.

It was fine.

Everything was fine.

_Holy shit._

To his credit, Eddie seemed a little surprised to see her when he stepped out of the shower.

Oh good. He was shirtless. Because Darcy totally needed to know that he was cut and covered with tattoos under all those button-downs and t-shirts and that ballin' motorcycle jacket. That's a visual she needed burned indelibly into her consciousness right now. Along with the fact that apparently he and Venom just- 

Awesome. No, this was _great._

Darcy tugged her earbuds out of her ears and smiled a little too brightly. "Hey!"

"Hey, that was fast. Sorry… I'm-" he wasn't really looking at her as he talked. He was searching for a shirt. Which was good, because Darcy couldn't stop the blush that stained her cheeks.

"Turns out the Indian place had an app, so I ordered while I walked." She said, eyes on the boxes of curry she'd rearranged on the counter for the third time.

"Oh. Nice." He pulled a black t-shirt over his head. "Let me get you some cash. I should have thought of it-"

"No, man, it's cool. I got it this time." she waved him off, still only looking at him through the edges of her vision. "You got lunch. And dinner last night."

"Darcy, that's a shitload of food, doll." The sincerity in his eyes melted so much of the awkwardness in an instant. And that sweet pet name that should've raised Darcy's hackles but somehow never did. 

"I know." She said, finally smiling at him a little more genuinely. "And I'm eating all the naan anyway, so-"

"Oh, the hell you are." Eddie sniped diving for the bag full of little foil triangles as Darcy pulled it just out of reach.

"Well, you'd better come get yours because I'm not sharing." Darcy fired back with a grin. "Oh! But this is for you. Well… for you guys." She reached into her backpack and produced the bag of chocolate she'd bought at the gas station.

He caught it when she tossed it to him. When he saw the package, he hit her with a blazing bright smile which made her knees a little weak. "Darcy… you're the absolute best. You don't have to do this."

"I know. But y'know… you said they like it. And I don't want them deciding I look like a snack." She nearly choked on the last word, hoping that Eddie and Venom weren't up on the latest internet vernacular. Though… that would be really funny and Eddie certainly looked like a snack, tattoos all shiny from the steam and-

_NOPE._ Not going there. Curry. Now. _Fuck._

"Come on." Eddie, clearly oblivious, grabbed a few of the curry containers and a foil pack of naan and headed for the couch. "Let's take the night off. Your Netflix queue or mine?"

And just like that the awkwardness was gone again. Eddie was just… easy to be around like that. 

Darcy pondered the question as she made her food selection and flopped down on the couch next to him. "What are you watching?"

"I've been working my way through _Blacklist._ You?"

"Been doing a depression-watch of _West Wing._ "

Eddie actually threw his head back and laughed at that one. "God, I haven't watched that in years… that sounds great."

Darcy looked down at the food in her lap, and then at her colleague and the sunlight streaming across his face, making his smile just that much more boyish and attractive. His laughter at her pithy little joke still rang in her skull, and she couldn't quite put her finger on why it all gave her pause. But it did. This was just… nice.

"What?" Eddie asked seeing her eyes go distant.

"Nothing." she said, smiling and grabbing an extra pack of naan. "That just… yeah. West Wing sounds great."

***


	7. Increasing the Numbers Doesn't Change Much

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eddie was quiet for a moment before he cut her a sidelong glance. "What's it like? Living around a bunch of heroes like that?"
> 
> Darcy blew a sigh out through pursed lips and puffed cheeks. "I mean… I know it's cliche but... I mean, they're just normal people."
> 
> Eddie snorted disbelievingly before taking a swig of his beer.
> 
> "No, I'm serious." Darcy insisted. "It's… they're like... shockingly normal. Look. I'll prove it to you. Natasha Romanoff? The Black Widow? All scary with the shady past and wears a garrote as a necklace? She watches "The Great British Bake-Off" religiously, and is the sole reason we have an honest-to-God full service Starbucks in the caf. Her favorite drink is a skinny Pumpkin Spice Latte, and Tony Stark keeps the syrup for that stocked year round. For everyone's health and safety."
> 
> A disbelieving smile spread across Eddie's lips. "No fucking way."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Monday, everyone! It's update time!
> 
> As always, I want to give a shoutout to my beta-readers KaminaDuck, TenaciousAeiolai, and musicnerd88 for all their help on this fic. I wouldn't have the confidence to publish without them.
> 
> And of course, thank you all for reading and leaving wonderful encouraging comments! Please don't hesitate to reach out to me here or on Tumblr if you there's anything you want to ask or if you just want to flail. Authors are vain creatures, and I'm no different. We love to talk about our work.
> 
> Now, without further adieu, on to this week's chapter! Enjoy everyone!

***

“How we react to the tragedy of one small person accurately reflects our attitude towards a whole nationality, and increasing the numbers doesn't change much.” ― Anna Politkovskaya

***

It was day five and they were still stuck. Hours and hours spent trawling through speeches, meetings, press releases, and news stories sometimes stretching back three and four years. All of it had yielded them nothing regarding the question of who was behind the shady mess at Ft. Joliet.

"They were smart." Eddie said, kicking back on the couch and resting his chin on his fist. "Kept all this shit off the government records."

"Yup. Not so much as a scrap of paper." Darcy agreed, giving him a defeated look.

"We might have to hire a hacker… someone that can dig through super covert financial shit, but that's only if we feel like going to jail once we cut to print."

"Oof. Can't pay for student loans in jail." Darcy said, wrinkling her nose. "So that's a hard pass from me."

"Same."

"Maybe we should go back to the recruitment office?" Darcy felt insane for even suggesting it after last time, but this was where they were. The possibility of getting shot versus the certainty of going to jail. "Maybe find more paperwork? Something with a name? Or something more directly implicating? I mean… clearly they're not interested in involving the police or we would already be locked up. They know where to find us."

Eddie shook his head. "I actually had that thought when I woke up this morning. But the recruitment office has moved." He sat forward, pulling up a news article before spinning his laptop to face her. The image showed Tisdale and several young officers in front of their swanky new digs… complete with obviously visible improvements to security. Cameras. Double locking doors with keypads. And a small contingent of K-9 recruits supposedly in training to be bomb sniffers judging by their vests, but Darcy suspected otherwise. "I don't think we want to try our luck." Eddie sighed.

"Yeah… hard pass again." she replied. "You wouldn't happen to have another intern up your sleeve would you? Or maybe some kid from the high school newspaper? We could send them to look around all legit like?"

"If Tisdale clocked you as fast as he did, they'd smell some high schooler from a mile off.." Eddie answered. "And they've proven they're willing to use lethal force. I'm the only one that should be going toe to toe with them at this point."

Darcy's face puckered with disappointment as she flopped backwards on the couch, mirroring Eddie's slouch. They were at a dead end. Until they cracked the riddle of that memo, or turned up something in the news or public archives about Joliet or other military operations in the area, they were hosed. And seriously… why would that place be in the news anyway? It was nothing but a reclaimed wilderness territory. It wasn't even supposed to be...

Darcy sat up again with a thoughtful frown. "Wait… this property at Joliet… the old base? It's changed hands, yeah? It's not military anymore."

"Yeah, went to… some conservationist group." Eddie hunkered over his laptop clicked through a few links. "The Forest Service, actually."

"The whole thing?"

"There's a few bits that went to other conservation groups or got set aside for monuments and stuff, but basically yeah."

"You sure? Is that purchase public record?"

Eddie blinked. "Should be." he sat forward, pulling his laptop into his lap and brought up a web page. "I mean, I've looked at the Forest Service page on the area and they're talking about reclamation and all that jazz."

"Except we know that can't be the case," Darcy said shaking a finger at nothing but her own newly racing thoughts. "Because we're reasonably certain that that's where they're taking these kids on these "field trips." Where they're showing off all the flashy tech and housing them in the fancy barracks. But you said yourself. The actual fort's been closed for decades." 

A frown pleated Eddie's brow. "Yeah…"

Darcy sat even farther forward with a broad smile on her face. "Eddie, we've been going at this backwards. Of course whatever third party is buried on this end. They can't afford to be found out by us or by anyone. There's a lot of scrutiny here both from the public and from the U.S. government. But who the hell is going to go digging in decades old land purchases by the fucking National Forest Service?"

"Holy shit…"

She kept wagging her finger as she reached for her laptop again. "Pull up Google maps and look up Joliet."

Eddie's fingers whizzed over the keys as Darcy worked on her own computer. "So supposedly most of Joliet went to the National Forest Service." she said as she typed. "There's a couple of monuments and historical sites… but that's it. Right? Should have all been repurposed for… whatever. Nature-y conservation-y things. Right?"

"Shoulda been." he agreed, eyes still on his screen.

"So… your map should look like mine?" She turned her laptop to face him. It showed an old map from the early 80s of the Joliet Ammunition Plant and its surrounds. Eddie also showed her his screen which was Google's version of the same area.

The boundaries didn't match.

"This parcel right here…" Darcy pointed on Eddie's computer where a border ate out a significant portion of land. "That's where the plant was and where the barracks were. That either didn't get sold or was sold back by the Forest Service at a later date. I'm gonna bet the latter."

"I'm gonna bet the latter too." Eddie nodded. "Forest Service is always needing money. They reclaimed a lot of this land for wilderness area. There's bound to be some stuff that wasn't suitable because of the weapons manufacturing. They probably tried to sell it instead once they realized that. Because again… funding."

"Funding. Exactly. We follow the funding. It's always the money in politics. Always. Especially if something doesn't make sense from a certain angle. All you have to do is shift your perspective and follow the money." she flailed her hands a little. "Okay. So. All we need to do is look into how the property has changed hands. And that stuff is public record. Or at the very least it should be, because Forest Service. But more importantly, it won't make waves if we go asking for it. Do… do you have any contacts at the Forest Service?"

"Yeah… yeah let me make some phone calls." Eddie said, visibly a little dazed at their sudden reversal of fortune. "Holy fuck, how did I not think of that?"

"That's why they pay me the big bucks back at Avengers HQ." Darcy said with a beaming grin. "My super hero alias is Captain Obvious."

Eddie already had his phone in his hand as he punched her playfully in the shoulder. In just a few seconds he had someone on the phone. "Hey Janet! It's Eddie Brock. Listen, you're still over in records with the Forest Service, yeah? Awesome… can I ask a favor?"

Darcy tuned him out as she scrolled through a new Google Maps window on her laptop. This called for pizza and beer. And lots of both. It would call for lots of both even if there wasn't a ravening alien to feed. Five days of work finally yielding a breakthrough was a perfect reason for all of the pizza and all of the beer. She quietly snuck out as Eddie chatted with his contact, and by the time she had acquired those things and returned, Eddie was off the phone.

"Janet said she could access those files in the morning. Her office had closed up for the day, so I gave her the details of what we're looking for." Eddie said taking the beer from her and stashing it in the mini fridge. "So now… we wait."

"More like now we eat!" Darcy said excitedly, presenting the coffee table full of pizza boxes like she was Vanna White. 

His eyes lit up. "What kind of pizza did you get?"

"Meat-lover's. Spicy sausage and jalapenos." She answered, flipping the boxes open one by one. "And they had a barbecue bacon cheeseburger pizza and that sounded like it couldn't suck, so I got one of those too."

He grinned at her. "Have I told you lately that you're amazing?"

Darcy shot him a pleased smile. "I do what I can. Dig in."

They loaded up some paper plates, cracked open a beer each, and headed out onto the balcony. They hadn't really been outside in a couple of days, relying on food deliveries to keep from starving, so the fresh air was a welcome change.

"Guh… this is exactly what I needed." Darcy half-moaned around her first bite, even as the hot cheese stuck to the roof of her mouth.

"Probably nothing like life back at Avengers Central." Eddie commented, his mouth already full so the words were half-garbled as he chased a string of cheese.

"There's not a greasy dive pizza joint for miles if that's what you mean." Darcy said. "It's… like don't get me wrong. There's a caf with an awesome chef and full staff because Tony Stark needs a life, and we all have kitchens in our suites, or there's a communal kitchen and you can just… It's great. Really. But everyone is super health conscious… I guess cause all the spandex y'know? I would be too. But sometimes you just want greasy neighborhood pizza joint pizza. So trust me. There's no place else I'd rather be."

"You must really like pizza, then." Eddie said elbowing her.

Darcy huffed and reached over to clock him in the arm. "I like getting to do what I'm actually good at for a change. I get to sort of feel like a superhero… or at least just like a competent human being."

Eddie was quiet for a moment before he cut her a sidelong glance. "What's it like? Living around a bunch of heroes like that?"

Darcy blew a sigh out through pursed lips and puffed cheeks. "I mean… I know it's cliche but... I mean, they're just normal people."

Eddie snorted disbelievingly before taking a swig of his beer.

"No, I'm serious." Darcy insisted. "It's… they're like... shockingly normal. Look. I'll prove it to you. Natasha Romanoff? The Black Widow? All scary with the shady past and wears a garrote as a necklace? She watches "The Great British Bake-Off" religiously, and is the sole reason we have an honest-to-God full service Starbucks in the caf. Her favorite drink is a skinny Pumpkin Spice Latte, and Tony Stark keeps the syrup for that stocked year round. For everyone's health and safety."

A disbelieving smile spread across Eddie's lips. "No fucking way." 

"Yep. Also? Hilarious fact? Thor loves ramen. And like… not the fancy stuff. The twenty-five-cents-for-a-whole-pallet cheap ramen noodles. There are cases and cases of the stuff down in storage because he can put an entire college dormitory to shame with how much cheap ramen he can eat. And? Scarlet Witch? Can't drive."

"No way…" 

"Believe it! She's failed her driving test _twice_ now. She can move shit with her mind and brain-warp you until you think you're the Lollipop Queen of the Gumdrop Kingdom, but she can't parallel park to save her damn life. They're all hilariously normal despite being "Earth's Mightiest Heroes" or whatever. I promise, you’d fit right in.”

Eddie laughed but shook his head. "I… we're not a hero. Not like… Like Captain America and all of them."

Her smile withered into a soft frown. "Why not?"

He looked away, and the cut of his eyes pulled on Darcy's heartstrings. "You've… you've seen what we do." he said quietly. "What we have to do."

Darcy pushed at his shoulder to try and get him to face her. She won herself a glance but that was all. "And I've seen what Cap does when he's busting up a HYDRA base." she said firmly. "Maybe he doesn't _eat_ the people he kills… but I've seen the footage. It's intense. And hey…" She knocked her beer bottle against his. "You saved me."

"And scared the shit out of you." Eddie retorted, still not looking at her.

"Well, I mean… if it makes you feel any better, I wasn't just talking about being saved from the guys with guns."

He cocked his head a little. "Oh?"

"I mean… your internship offer saved me from just languishing away in Avengers R and D as a glorified coffee girl for the rest of my life. I mean… don't get me wrong. I love my people there. It's… it's like a family. It really is. But instead of having the weird uncle or cousin at Thanksgiving, you get a bunch of siblings that can all do random shit like shoot lasers out of their faces or fly. It's not a bad life. But… I want… it's like I said. It's nice to be good at something for a change. Not just useful."

Eddie smiled. His smile, the one that spread his appealingly capacious mouth and crinkled the corner of his eyes. "You still thinking of going back?"

"Once I graduate? I mean… probably?" she said, ambling over to the balcony rail with her half finished beer to watch the lights of the Chicago skyline begin to flicker to life in the distance. "But I don't think I'm going to just go back to being Jane's errand runner."

He trailed after her, resting his elbows on the railing. "What are you thinking of doing then?"

Darcy shrugged. "I dunno. Might see if there's a room for rent in the Fourth Estate." She shot him a sidelong smile.

"Journalism's not what it used to be, doll." Eddie said, mirroring her expression despite the earnestness of his warning. "But given what I've seen the last few days. I think you could do more than just rent a room."

Darcy smiled so hard her nose wrinkled. "Yeah?"

"Hell yeah." He replied, bumping her with his shoulder which had him settled a little closer to her on the balcony rail. "You're a great writer. And you're tenacious, but you're flexible. Enough to be able to both assume someone else's point of view, but still criticise it. It's a hard balance to strike, but you do it. Seriously… Tell me who you want to write for, and I'll put in a good word. Though I likely won't need to after this article, if it goes our way. Every investigative journalism outlet left out there will be clamoring after us. I guarantee it. We'll both have more work than we can manage."

"You'll come visit me at Avengers HQ though, right?"

"Of course." he answered.

They were both silent for awhile, polishing off their beers as the purpling velvet of twilight settled across the shoulders of the Chicago skyline.

"Are you going to tell them about us?" Eddie asked, eyes staring fixedly at the pavement far below.

"I assume you mean tell the Avengers about your co-pilot." she said. "Because I already ran through every floor of Avengers HQ screaming with joy about getting this internship with you."

Eddie laughed a little at that, color rising in his cheeks. "Yeah… yeah, I mean… are you going to tell them about Venom?"

Her mouth worked as she thought. "I mean if you don't want me to, I won't. In a way I wouldn't blame you."

"But…"

"But you're… they're not the only one. Sure you're the only one we know of on Earth, but you said so yourself… there's a whole comet full of these... things. Guys. Symbiotes." She still fumbled around for the right words when talking about Venom, but she pressed on to make her point. "And these symbiotes... they eat people. As well as turn them into duplexes if they find one they like. So I mean… I wouldn't want to tell them because I think you're a danger, but if… if more of them wind up here? Or if one's already loose and we just haven't seen it yet? The Avengers should know. Just… so they can be prepared."

He nodded, an unhappy hunch creeping over his shoulders. "That's what I figured you'd say."

"Like I said. Call me Captain Obvious." Darcy shrugged, finding herself digging her heels in on her stance.

"Well, I'm guessing they'll have some questions about the whole eating people thing." Eddie said braiding and unbraiding his fingers nervously.

"Yeah… I imagine most of them will take a very dim view on that." Darcy conceded. "But on the other hand, I keep telling you… you should see Cap go to town on HYDRA soldiers. That man works out his issues on their faces until they're just mulch. I'm sure he wouldn't blink if you wanted to eat two or three of them on mission."

Eddie snorted but said nothing.

"Look… I'm not going to tell them about you unless you give me the go-ahead. Scout's honor. But just…" she paused to lick her lips. "Can I tell you something else I know about the Avengers and all their attendant hangers-on like Jane and whoever's left over from SHIELD?"

"Yeah?"

"None of them is worth shit on their own." Darcy said flatly. "Like… look, Jane Foster's a brilliant scientist. Best in her field. Nobel prize material. But she can't remember to eat once every four to six hours without help. Seriously, I've been sending her texts while I've been gone reminding her to take care of herself because she will get so wrapped up in what she's doing she will forget to keep herself alive. You want another one? Let's go back to Natasha Romanoff for a second. She is the best spy there is. Maybe the best there ever has been. But she excels when she has someone else's plan to follow. Hell, that's how SHIELD caught her in the first place, or so the story goes. She was operating on her own and got cornered. And Cap?" She puffed out her cheeks. "Fuck, where do you start with that man? He just needs a hug. Like… every five minutes. And don't even _get_ me started on Tony Stark. There are not enough hours in the day for all the hugs and therapy he needs." Darcy shook her head. "But together? I don't know… it just works better. For all of them. So just… don't feel like you have to go it alone, okay? I'm not going to make you take up the spangled spandex racket if you don't want to… but don't think it's not an option. Don't think… don't think that your only option is alone. Okay?"

Eddie blinked at her slowly, and for a moment Darcy felt an uncanny sensation that had her hair crawling on her scalp... like she'd drawn more than just his attention.

She swallowed a little tightly and looked away, putting on a sheepish grin. "Sorry… that got deeper than I'd… yeah. You get my point."

Eddie gave her a half-smile and reached over to take her hand. She reflexively turned her palm up to his, feeling his skin fever-hot against hers. And she could feel the strength in his fingers the way she'd felt it in his hug. A tension that raised the hairs on the back of her neck even as she took a strange sort of comfort in it. She wondered how much of that was him and how much of that was Venom. And how much of a difference there was anyway...

"I've always wanted to do right by the world." Eddie said, running his thumb down her index finger. "That's why I went into journalism. It's why I do journalism the way I do. I could have made a lot more money kissing ass and doing stories people wanted to hear about but… That shouldn't be what this business is about. It's about helping people. Helping them to understand when there's points of view they might be missing. Helping to expose injustice."

Darcy nodded, finding herself drawn in a little. Maybe more than a little. "I've always admired you for that."

He smiled, a blush staining his cheeks again. "But I've never been good at letting other people help me." he went on. "Went through a few EPs and editors on The Brock Report in the beginning and looking back, it's just cause I was shit at working with people. At depending on them. So this… arrangement?" He vaguely gestured at himself. "It took some getting used to."

"And yet you wanted an intern?" Darcy teased, bumping him with her shoulder.

He laughed then. "Actually, I didn't."

Darcy nearly choked on her beer. "You… what?"

"I wasn't even looking for an intern for this project. But Eric? Your advisor? He called me. Said he had a brilliant student who needed an internship credit and asked if I could I help him out."

Darcy's face drew up in a confused frown. "Really?"

"And I was going to say no until I read your thesis." Eddie looked a shade smug at her shock. "And then I knew I'd be a fool to pass up the help."

It was Darcy's turn to blush. "Even though you didn't need any help."

"Are you kidding? Of course I need help. I need _your_ help. You're the better writer by far. You’re the one with the idea that pulled us out of a five day rut with no leads. And you're the one that kept your head in a damn firefight and stole the actually helpful paperwork. If not for you, this would still be just a human rights sob story that people would just nod meaningfully about at best and ignore outright at worst."

"You'd have figured it out." She elbowed him and was surprised when he dropped her hand and threw his arm around her waist to pull her into a one-armed hug. She felt his strength again as she dropped her head to his shoulder, but it didn't surprise or unnerve her this time. She just pulled his arm even tighter as she settled.

"Well, I guess this has been good for both of us, then." she said, looking out over the hazy Chicago skyline as she felt his cheek settle against the part of her hair. "You not having to shoulder all this by yourself, and me getting out of the cycle of constantly fetching terrible lab coffee."

"Now it's just terrible convenience store coffee."

"Still better than when Selvig makes it." She said, pulling a face.

Darcy could feel him relaxing around her. No less pressure, but less tension. The embrace was no longer a passing gesture. They were settling here in this closer space. With this closer perspective on each other.

"Hey." he nudged the crown of her head with his nose.

"Mm?" she looked up, strangely shocked to find his face so close to hers. She unconsciously licked her lips as her view was dominated by the soft curve of his ample mouth. She'd marked before that his lips looked soft… but now with his Cupid's bow dominating her view, it was hard to think about anything other than just how wonderfully soft they looked.

_He should totally do lip balm commercials._ Darcy thought. _I'd buy anything he was selling…_

"I'm going to think about what you said. About the Avengers." Eddie said.

"You're coming to visit regardless. But I'll leave the big reveal up to you." Darcy said with a sweetly self-assured grin that she hoped hid the sudden spike in her heart rate. She liked this closeness. And she hoped she wasn't being too obvious about it.

"Oh am I?" he teased, and Darcy could feel him threading his thumb through one of her belt loops.

"Yeah." She replied. Could Venom sense… or maybe smell when someone's heart was skipping beats? She certainly hoped not.

"Yeah?"

She dared to cut her eyes up to look at him. There were his pretty lips again… making it hard to think. "Yeah." was the best response she could muster.

There was a breath of silence as they regarded each other. The close proximity should have made it awkward, but somehow the only tension remaining between them was that they seemed too far apart, even with arms around each other and the same sweetly warmed air passing between them.

Darcy wasn't sure who kissed who. They both seemed to move at the same time, mouths pressing together as if pulled by gravity. Eddie's lips were as soft as they looked for the record, but even softer was the gentle swipe of his tongue along her bottom lip. Her mouth dropped open on instinct, and she might've moaned just a little against his lips. And a little more when he licked his way inside… just a taste… just a tease...

They both pulled back with the same synchronization. Just enough distance for eyes to focus and breath to catch.

"This alright?" Eddie asked, his voice barely above a whisper.

She just nodded, not trusting her voice immediately.

"We aren't exactly here on equal footing so… I don't want you to feel coerced or-"

"Can I ask a question?" Darcy said softly, her brow furrowing just slightly as she looked down where she was resting her beer bottle against his chest.

"Of course, doll."

"Is… Venom in there?" She asked, her eyes tentatively meeting his again. "I mean… is… are they watching this?"

Eddie blinked and sucked on his lip for a moment. Darcy tried not to focus on the motion too much, lest her brain short out entirely. "You want the truth?" he asked.

"Well, I'm technically a reporter now," she showed her teeth in a playful smile. "So… yeah."

"They're always watching." Came the wary answer as his eyes searched her face, before the faintest hint of a grin caught the corner of his mouth. "And… a little more than watching."

Darcy kept her smile but arched an eyebrow. "... really?"

"Yeah."

"A little more than watching?"

Eddie swallowed and looked away for a moment, though he didn't put any more space between them. "Venom likes you." He said finally.

Darcy stared at him for a moment. Even her breath held stock still as she considered this. "You guys talk about me?" Darcy asked after the admission had begun to sink in, wrinkling her nose as she grinned.

He looked back down at her, hooking a wayward curl behind her ear. "We talk about everything."

"But they like me?" she said, squinting up at him a little. "They've told you this?"

Eddie nodded, his nose bumping against hers.

Darcy squared her shoulders a little and gave a nod almost to herself it seemed. Then she took both their beer bottles and set them on the balcony rail before turning to face him fully, arms looping around his broad shoulders. "Kiss me again." She said.

"You sure?"

It was her turn to nod and she raised up on tiptoe a little to make her point. "Kiss me again."

Eddie folded down over her again, cradling her against his ribs and covering her upturned mouth with his own. She really kissed him this time. Or rather, beckoned for him to kiss her. Darcy's lips parted under his instantly inviting him to explore even as she gently sucked on his bottom lip. He licked into her mouth, barely swallowing down a groan of his own. His tongue was ridiculously hot as it slipped between her teeth. Like he was running a fever. The implications of that made blood pool low in her core in ways that made her lightheaded.

When Darcy finally pulled back, she found her dazed expression mirrored on Eddie's face. "Good?"

"Good." came the breathless reply.

"That was for Venom too."

Eddie looked like she could have knocked him over with a feather, and Darcy smiled like the cat who had eaten an entire pet store's supply of canaries.

"Come on." she said, smile still lingering. "Let's take the rest of this pizza in and watch some more West Wing. If you're amenable. I think we've earned the evening off."

Eddie could only nod, following in her wake to help her as she gathered up their paper plates and the half empty pizza boxes and traipsed inside.

Darcy was asleep by the opening credits of the third episode, pillowed comfortably on Eddie's shoulder with her hand tucked into the pocket of his hoodie. He let the episode finish, but he didn't exactly watch it. He just sat there, with the warmth of Darcy's body bringing to flower an ache he'd long since thought withered. He dropped his nose into the part of her hair as the credits scrolled by, daring to give her a little kiss there. Venom was right. She smelled sweet. And she felt sweet… and tasted sweet...

Sweetness was not something that was a part of their world. Not since Anne had left. In Venom's wake, sweetness had become sharpness. And softness, strength. Passion had turned over into feverish want. It wasn’t bad. It was who they were. Who they could be together. What they wanted to be together.

And yet he could feel Venom stirring, peering out his eyes at the sleeping form slumped against both of them. Feeling the weight of her frame where it pressed to theirs. Hearing the evenness of her breath. For a moment he thought the symbiote might speak, but they didn't. They just hovered right behind his eyes, curiosity pouring out of their attention in waves. Venom was present in a way they rarely were outside of moments alone with just Eddie. Slipping around just under the surface, as if to feel the places where Darcy's weight pressed against Eddie's body.

Eddie discovered in that moment that the ache he felt was not just his own. And it was new for Venom. A wanting that had nothing to do with consumption or destruction. A drive with no clear action to sate it. The symbiote almost felt fidgety as they zipped through his veins, unsure of what to do.

When the credits finished rolling, Eddie carefully scooped Darcy up off the sofa as easily as he might a child. It helped that she was short and that he had super strength. He could feel Venom coursing mindfully through his limbs as he moved. It wasn't as if Eddie couldn't carry Darcy without help. It was almost as if the symbiote was being… careful.

When they reached the bed, Venom extruded a single black tentacle to draw back the sheets on Darcy's bed. Eddie nestled her down on the pillow and she rolled onto her side, face never flinching and breathing still coming slow and even.

Eddie was about to turn out the light when Venom's voice rumbled through his thoughts.

**Eddie.**

"What is it, Love?" he murmured.

**What is this?**

"What do you mean?"

**What do we do?** Venom asked. **Darcy brings us chocolate. She kissed us. What do we do?**

Eddie couldn't suppress a smile. Venom was a killing machine. A predator that could consume a full grown human in one bite. But they were flummoxed by something as tender and sweet as this, even as they palpably yearned for it. 

"We will probably have a conversation about that in the morning. Darcy and me." Eddie told them. "But odds are good we'll cool it until her internship is over. The professional world frowns on dating your intern. Could affect the integrity of the story. Could affect her professional prospects in the future."

**Not ours?**

Eddie shook his head. "The world is not a fair place, Darling."

Venom growled softly. Eddie could feel the unmistakable sensation of the creature having a sulk. And a flare of something… protective. Possessive. It was a feeling that usually coiled around his ribs but this flared outward as well. Flung his thoughts to the sleeping figure on the opposite bed.

Eddie smiled to himself. "Thought you didn't like me dating other people?"

**We like Darcy.**

"You're not wrong about that. What do you like about her?"

**She's smart. And she tastes sweet.**

Eddie had to suppress a laugh. This was really too precious.

**What do we do in the meantime?** They asked, peering down at her through Eddie's eyes. **While we wait.**

"You mean until we figure out if we're going to start dating or whatever?"

**Yes.**

Eddie regarded her sleeping form as he sat back on the edge of his bed. "We take care of her. I mean that's what we'll do regardless. That's how you show someone you care about them. Like you take care of me."

**And how Darcy brings us chocolate?**

Eddie pouted his lips in thought for a moment. "Yeah. Yeah, I guess that too now that you mention it."

There was a grunt of understanding followed by another wet slurp that announced something of Venom manifesting outside of Eddie's body. A new tentacle rose from his shoulder stretching out towards Darcy's sleeping form. For a split second, Eddie thought Venom was going to touch her, and how fun would this be to explain if she woke up? But instead the symbiote reached across the bed, retrieved the corner of the blanket and pulled it over Darcy's shoulders tucking it carefully under her forearm without touching her.

Another squelch and Venom's head had poked out to peer over Eddie's shoulder. They regarded Darcy for a moment, watching the shallow rise and fall of her ribs. **"Like we take care you…"** they whispered, using the tentacle to turn Eddie's head for a kiss of their own. One that ended in tongues and teeth and more tentacles slowly entwining around his shoulders.

Eddie let the sensation of Venom washing over him carry him all the way to his own pillow, the blackness and weight of them welcome as exhaustion overtook him at last. 

***


	8. Privation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Son of a bitch." Eddie breathed before springing from the couch to frantically pace. "Then… then this all makes sense." 
> 
> Darcy cocked her head, eyes following his sudden burst of movement with a careful squint. "I sense you've made a jump I'm not following."
> 
> "No, see it's just like before! Just like with the LIFE Foundation. I know this… I know what this looks like. They're snatching up vulnerable people… people who won't have a fuss made about them if they go missing or don't communicate for a long time. But it's a different demographic, so there's no pattern. This time they're recruiting in the inner city high schools. Pulling kids… shit. Kids that don't have any other opportunities. Kids whose parents are probably glad to get rid of them… assuming they even have any! No wonder no one is raising a stink." He slammed his hands on the wall in aggravation before bolting for his jacket and helmet. "We have to go. We have to go now."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Monday everyone!
> 
> I'll keep this short and sweet since I have a hellish list of errands to run today.
> 
> Thank you to my beta readers @kaminaduck, TenaciousAeiolai, and musicnerd88. I could not do this without y'all.
> 
> Thank you to everyone who has left such kind and excited comments for me. I sometimes wonder if I look forward to Monday updates more than y'all, just because I get to hear the feedback. It really means the world to me.
> 
> And thank you to EVERYONE reading my little story. 
> 
> Enjoy y'all!

***

“The artificial primacy of defense among our national priorities is a constant unearned windfall for some, but it's privation for the rest of America; it steals from what we could be and can do. In Econ 101, they teach that the big-picture fight over national priorities is guns versus butter. Now it's butter versus margarine—guns get a pass.

Overall, we're weaker for it, and at enormous cost.” - Rachel Maddow, _Drift: The Unmooring of American Military Power_

***

Eddie's contact at the Forest Service yielded exactly what they had been looking for all week long. A name. Fucking finally. Though it turned out to be far from good news.

The name of the company that owned that little sliver of the old Ft. Joliet grounds was one Midewin Delta. A nebulously specified military contractor in the business of "creating integrated solutions for a more secure and bright future." (Seriously… their slogan made Darcy wonder if anyone on their board of directors had ever heard of Weyland-Yutani…) And the best part? A cursory Google search revealed that Midewin Delta was formerly known as the weapons manufacturer, Drake Delta. Subsidiary of The LIFE Foundation.

"No fucking way." Eddie breathed the words out, thick with disbelief. 

"See for yourself. Thus spaketh Archive.org." Darcy spun her computer to face him showing the old websites for Drake Delta. "Seems they formally split off to become Midewin Delta years ago, but your buddy Carleton Drake? He sat on their board of directors until he went "missing" in the explosion in San Francisco. Oh… and would you look at that. They helped with the clean up from the "failed launch" at the LIFE Foundation."

"Son of a bitch." Eddie breathed before springing from the couch to frantically pace. "Then… then this all makes sense." 

Darcy cocked her head, eyes following his sudden burst of movement with a careful squint. "I sense you've made a jump I'm not following."

"No, see it's just like before! Just like with the LIFE Foundation. I know this… I know what this looks like. They're snatching up vulnerable people… people who won't have a fuss made about them if they go missing or don't communicate for a long time. But it's a different demographic, so there's no pattern. This time they're recruiting in the inner city high schools. Pulling kids… shit. Kids that don't have any other opportunities. Kids whose parents are probably glad to get rid of them… assuming they even have any! No wonder no one is raising a stink." He slammed his hands on the wall in aggravation before bolting for his jacket and helmet. "We have to go. We have to go now."

Darcy was on her feet but far from chasing after him. She was still asking questions. "Go where?"

"To Midewin Delta. To Joliet! To… shit, look." He rounded on her and took a deep breath to calm himself enough to explain. "The memo you found said "testing," right?"

She nodded mutely.

"I guarantee you, Midewin Delta has gone to human trials with symbiotes. Or… or they're about to. Trying to. Something." He grabbed her hands to make himself focus as he talked it through. "They… they cleaned up Drake's mess back in California, yeah? And probably brought all his research back with them. There were more symbiotes than just… than just Venom and Riot. Maybe… they weren't all accounted for? Maybe… shit!" He resumed his frantic pacing as he started pulling on his jacket.

Darcy shoved the heels of her hands against her eyes and took a breath. "Jesus, this is the actual worst."

"You're telling me."

"Okay look…" Darcy stepped into his path and grabbed his hands again, drawing his attention as she made every effort to keep her tone calm and reasonable. "You're right. We need to go and help these kids. Hell, you two are probably the only ones who can guarantee that you can get in and out of there with intel safely. But… but let's finish going over our facts first? Make sure we have everything square going in? Maybe look back at the raw interviews of some of those kids that went on the field trips? Find out something about this place before we just ride up and knock on the front door, yeah?" 

Eddie gave a shaky nod, prompting her to slip her hand up one sleeve and squeezed his arm to make him hold still for a minute. He seriously looked about ready to vibrate out of his skin. And something down in her gut told her it wasn't just him. "Look, I know you two could just go in there and wreck their shit and they would deserve every bit of what would be coming to them, but that's not the only thing we need to do. Not if we want to really stop them. If we can't sic the public on them… get the feds on their tail, they'll just go hide again and pop up elsewhere with a new name and it'll start all over again. And besides… we should go in at night. All stealthy-like, yeah?"

Eddie's eyes cleared a little at the contact. And once again, Darcy had the uncanny feeling she'd garnered more than just Eddie's attention. "Yeah…" the word was little more than a steadying exhale. "Yeah, okay let's… You're right. You're right." He covered her hand with his own, keeping her close while he visibly struggled to bring order to his racing thoughts. "We… we don't even have what it would take to mount a true rescue anyway. No way to get those kids out of there… if they even are there. No way to know how many… Jesus, what a shitshow…"

And for a moment they both exchanged a desperate look. Like the only thing more distressing than this discovery was how far apart they were. And how easy it would be to close the gap and garner comfort from their closeness. But they seemed to think better of it after the frissoned second passed. Eddie visibly shook himself, and Darcy shot him a contrite look. But she didn't pull her hand back until he released her.

"We… should probably talk too at some point, yeah?" Darcy asked, practically tasting their mutual conflict.

"Yeah, I…" Eddie passed a hand over the back of his neck as they eased over to the couch. "I intended to today actually, had we not just, y'know… uncovered a huge lead in our case and possibly discovered that hundreds of teenagers are being experimented on with symbiotes."

Darcy nodded, mostly to herself. "Dig up those interview transcripts and we'll talk while we pick through them."

"I… okay."

They flopped down on the couch and pulled their laptops back onto their knees, both trying to appear very focused on their work. 

"So… I'm not really sure who kissed who last night." Darcy began, the words coming out a little fast..

"Yeah, me neither." Eddie laughed a little at the admission.

"So we can assume it's mutual then?" Darcy asked, cutting him a quick sidelong glance, which he mirrored the instant she looked away.

"Yeah… it's… yeah. I just…" he trailed off and was quiet for awhile and Darcy, to her heroic credit, was patient. Letting him parse his thoughts in his own time, because clearly he still had more to say. He was just visibly chewing on it. "It's not just me in here, y'know." he finally settled on saying.

"I know." She replied gently. "And if you'll recall, I kissed you for them the second time. And I bought them chocolate."

"And Venom likes you too, y'know… like… it's actually really cute-" The word was cut off by a wet snarl that twisted into a terrific fit of laughter as Eddie suppressed the reaction.

Darcy watched it all with wide, startled eyes for a moment before dissolving into giggles herself. She covered her face to stifle the sound as she listed into him and wound up tucked under his arm with her cheek pillowed against his collarbone. She sighed, breathing in the warmth that radiated from him in waves. She could lay like this all day. Sunshine on one side and him on the other...

"But this is probably not a great idea… since I'm your intern." She finally sighed, words muffled somewhat against his threadbare hoodie.

"Yeah, probably not." Eddie agreed, though he didn't quite let go.

"I don't want to get you in trouble." Darcy said, looking up at him.

"It's not me that will get in trouble, doll. I'm a freelance journalist. Ain't nobody to care about what I do. But you? I mean… it's not fair but you've got connections to make and a reputation to build. It's bullshit, but it's the way the world is."

"Yeah...:" Darcy sighed again. 

"It's not fair, but it's probably for the best." He sounded like he liked the idea of cooling their heels about as well as she did.

Darcy took a small measure of comfort in that and nodded glumly before shooting him a hopeful glance. "But… after? Maybe we'll check in again?"

A bewildered and besotted smile pulled at Eddie's mouth. It was another one of those half smiles that didn't look to be quite his own. Not entirely. "You're sure this… ah… package deal is for you?"

"Look," Darcy said, sitting up to look at him. "I'll admit I haven't exactly gotten quality time with your co-pilot. But… I like what I've seen?"

"You like what you've seen?" Now this was Eddie's smile. The completely amused if slightly mystified one that Darcy was really starting to love seeing.

She lifted one shoulder. "They're a chocoholic who will literally eat someone for messing with me. And you kiss like a dream and have a hoodie I already want to steal. That's what I call A-plus boyfriend material right there."

Eddie really did laugh then, full-throated and boisterous. And Darcy watched, feeling something warm and fond spreading through her rib cage. 

"Kiss me again." she said a little recklessly, tilting her head just so. "And then we should actually get some work done."

Eddie's smile softened into something far more content. Into something that almost looked like relief. He didn't hesitate, closing the gap in an instant and pressing his lips to hers. If a kiss on the lips was ever chaste, it was this one. Nothing but soft pressure and gentle touches. No tongues, no teeth. Not even any hands. Just the sweet sway of shared breath.

Darcy pulled back, her eyes locking with his, and something fizzed between them in that moment. Something that swooned and beckoned for more. Forget the article. Forget propriety…

"Still watching?" Darcy whispered.

Eddie nodded, breath coming shallowly through his parted lips.. 

"More than watching?" Darcy asked, a quirk of a grin tugging her mouth up.

He nodded again, catching his bottom lip between his teeth in a way Darcy was certain would eventually drive her mad.

"Do they want another?" She asked.

Eddie let the plump arch of his lip rake under his teeth. "Venom… they always want. It's part of what they are… of what-"

She cut him off with another kiss, this one far less reserved but still no less warm and sweet. Even when she set her top teeth against his bottom lip and pulled. 

"Patience, Venom." she crooned against Eddie's open mouth. 

Eddie visibly shook as a shiver overtook him from head to toe. He pulled his lip between his teeth again as if he could suck the simple sweetness of her kiss from it. "If we don't get to work, Venom is not the only one you'll be having to chide about being patient."

Darcy made an intrigued little sound low in her throat. "Duly noted. Now…" She mercifully put some space between them. "Whatcha got?"

***

For the second time in less than a week, Darcy found herself crouched in the dark outside a chain link fence next to Eddie Brock with taser tightly in hand. She really _really_ should invest in some stealth lessons with Romanoff when she made it back to Avengers HQ.

"Alright. One last time for my sake." Eddie half-whispered.

"For my sake too." she encouraged.

"We are headed there." He pointed to the hulking concrete structure on the far side of the open grounds. "It's the old weapons plant. They've likely re-purposed it for testing. We'll slip between the barracks. Doesn't look like they have external patrols or guard stations, but they'll make good cover just in case there's someone looking out."

"Is the transmitter thing working?" Darcy asked.

"Yep." Eddie reached into a hidden pocket he'd sewn into his pants and retrieved a older model smartphone. "This is transmitting to my backup drive as we speak. I've got one in San Fran and one in Chicago. If we get stuck in here, any data that we pull is still out there and I've got people who know to go look for it. And eventually us. Hopefully."

Darcy swallowed hard on that statement, the uncertainty of it nearly sticking in her throat. "Yeah." she said trying to keep the sudden spike fear out of her voice. "Hopefully."

"You ready for this?" Eddie asked. "Because you don't have-"

"Don't say it, Eddie." she cut him off, reaching over to give his hand a hard squeeze. "Come on."

A few snips with the wire cutters and they were in, ducking between cinderblock buildings for cover as they approached the old ammunition plant. They kept their eyes up, scanning for movement, but as they threaded their way through the barracks Darcy couldn't help but notice the high security locks on all the barrack doors. Key pads. Palm scanners. Card slots. The works. Cameras too… So they'd best keep moving. But she did note it, and pointed it out to Eddie as they passed.

"Come on." he said with a jerk of his head. "Let's get what we need and then we can bust all of these open on our way back out."

Darcy nodded in agreement.

There were similar security measures on most of the ammunition plant entrances too, save the roll-up door around on the back side. That was just double padlocked. Though apparently the controls were only on the inside. Eddie motioned for her to take a step back, and then crouched by the handle. There was an unnatural ripple in his muscles that Darcy might've blamed on a trick of the patchy moonlight had she not known better, and the door cracked enough for them both to wriggle underneath.

"Whoa." Darcy breathed as she stood, knocking the dust from her pants.

"What- holy shit." Eddie had straightened up behind her to survey the scene.

As predicted, the interior of the old ammunition plant had been converted into a very sophisticated laboratory. File upon file of white canisters taller than Darcy stretched the length of the sizable room, ending at the metal stairs that snaked up the far wall. In the far corner, a cluster of aluminum topped lab tables gleamed in the inconsistent light. And a whole wall of glass and steel reinforced cubicles lined the wall on the other side of the room. Everywhere was the muted shine of clean metal and sharp angles mixed with the sterile white of containment vessels and incubators. All of it incongruous to the cathedral of rusted metal and mouldering concrete that housed it.

Darcy had marked Eddie's change in tone and looked back over her shoulder. "Looking familiar?"

"Yep." Eddie had started to drift into the room. "This is all LIFE Foundation tech. Got a good look at some of it back in San Fran before Venom grabbed me and got us out of there."

"I see some file cabinets back here. And computers." Darcy pointed to the far left-hand corner, already moving in that direction with Eddie hot on her heels. 

"These'll all be password protected." He said, choosing to investigate the file cabinets and already starting to leaf through papers in favor of dealing with the computers. "So unless you're a hacker…?"

Darcy plopped herself down in one of the chairs. "I'm a low grade hacker." she replied. 

He arched an eyebrow at her over the top of a file folder. "Meaning?"

"Meaning…" She dropped one shoulder and started rooting around under the desk. "Meaning… Aha!" She withdrew her hand with a hot pink sticky note stuck to one finger with a username and password scrawled on it. "Meaning I know to look for stickies."

He blinked twice, his lips parted in awed surprise. "I could kiss you."

"Later." she winked.

A few taps on the keyboard later and she was logged in. Eddie produced a thumb drive and slipped it into a USB port as she worked. "This'll pull everything it can reach and send it directly to the cloud. We can sift through it all later. Focus on finding info about experiments. And where these kids are being held."

A few more keystrokes and mouse clicks and Darcy was humming uncomfortably. "Looks like you were spot on in thinking this had something to do with the LIFE Foundation's symbiote research. Says here they were trying to reanimate the symbiotes that died in the early experiments in California. Something about… Project Centipede? And Kree blood? But it didn't work. Or at least hasn't worked so far."

"Yeah…" Eddie's voice came from further away and Darcy looked up to see that he had drifted away again, and was peering into a squat square device that resembled an incubator. She pushed away from the desk and sidled up beside him. Inside the glass enclosure was a small puddle of black goo striated with veins of deep blue. Darcy was overwhelmed by the strange impression that it should be moving. And something about the lack of movement made her own skin crawl.

"Is that-" she started to ask.

"Agony." The word drifted through the air like a mote of dust.

"Huh?"

"That's… Venom said that this one was named Agony."

Darcy did her level best not to pull a face or make a quip but she couldn't help herself on either account. "I'm sensing a theme."

"Well… they're space-faring predators. They-" Eddie started to shrug and then immediately pulled an incredulous face. "What? You are! Jesus, you don't like when I call you parasite. You don't like when I-"

"Oh my God, really?" Darcy was sure if she rolled her eyes any harder, they would fall out of her skull. Now? Seriously? They were doing this now?

She was actually about to tell them to shelve the marital dispute when the door nearest to them slammed open quite effectively silencing all three of them. They whipped around and Darcy had just enough time to register that one of the three men stalking through the door was carrying what looked for all the world like a rocket launcher, before Eddie grabbed her by the shoulders and threw her to the ground. Her bones ground against the concrete as Eddie crouched over her, Venom's inky presence already beginning to ripple out over his frame. All his muscles tensed and Darcy was certain she was about to witness another full on transformation when suddenly the room was split by an ear piercing noise.

Eddie's whole body drew up like an angry cat. Darcy watched in horror as his limbs twitched and spasmed almost as if he were having a seizure. But she was gripped by the certainty that it wasn't Eddie that this God-awful racket was sending into convulsions. It was Venom. 

Regardless, it was not a good idea to have a superhuman whatever they were going into convulsions right on top of her, so Darcy did her best to wriggle out from under his frame. She also tried to lean forward and get her hands over his ears, but it didn't seem to help. It was as if the sound itself were a damaging and down right caustic force to the symbiote. They rippled and roiled under his skin in a way that made Darcy queasy. She looked towards the door and saw the guards advancing, one toting the world's worst noise-maker, and the other two armed with handguns. She managed to wriggle completely out from under Eddie, pull her taser out and electrocute one of them. But there was still another, who happily laid a solid kick across her temple sending her reeling to the floor again.

"I've got her." He barked over his shoulder. "Keep that on him until the specimen detaches and then get it corralled."

"Yes sir!"

Darcy tried to scrabble away but the guard was too fast. He kicked her again and then hauled her to her feet just as Venom puddled out of Eddie's body, leaving him to collapse on the ground. She did her best to wrestle away from her captor, but the blows to the head she'd received made her vision swim and she blacked out before she could do anything more than put up an admittedly feeble struggle.

***

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hee hee... cliffhanger! Feel free to throw things at me in the comments. See you next week!
> 
> You can find me on Tumblr at @littlethingwithfeathers.


	9. The Last Refuge of the Scoundrel

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When she came to, Darcy had no way of knowing how long she'd been unconscious. All that greeted her bleary sight was the sidelong view from the grimy concrete floor of a barred cell. She squinted in the dingy flickering fluorescent light forcing herself to focus beyond the rusted bars. She could see two men in black tac suits standing guard with their backs to her. They had guns in the holsters on their belts, along with pepper spray, flash grenades, and batons. So that was significantly not awesome. Still, since they hadn't noticed she was awake yet, she had a minute to evaluate her current situation.
> 
> Where was she?
> 
> How long had she been out?
> 
> And where was Eddie? And Venom? Were there other cells here like this one? Were they-
> 
> Darcy had tried to sit up, which caused the whole room to spin like a carnival ride. She quickly flattened herself to the ground again, swallowing a colorful curse along with a wave of nausea. She stayed there for a moment and just breathed, and breathed, and when it didn't feel like the room was pirouetting, she opened her eyes again.
> 
> Fuck, she was in so much trouble.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Monday everyone!
> 
> Sorry I'm a little late getting this out this morning! But that reminds me that we only have two chapters left after this one, the last of which I'm extending by a good bit. That means that there's a chance, depending on my writing/editing time, it may be a little bit later than usual. I just wanted to be up front about it. It's an epilogue though, so don't worry about me withholding the final act of the plot from you.
> 
> Speaking of editing... many thanks to KaminaDuck for their tireless work helping me get these last few chapters ready.
> 
> And thank you all for your kind words, all the kudos, and the reblogs I've been seeing on Tumblr. BTW, feel free to share this sucker around if you want. I would definitely appreciate the visibility as I don't really have a huge following.
> 
> Okay that's enough blathering from me! On to the chapter! Enjoy!

***

“When, in a free society, the press is criticized for negativity, that almost always means it has dared to question the policies of the party in power. 'Patriotism,' Samuel Johnson said, 'is the last refuge of a scoundrel.' He could have been speaking of those who use it to shield themselves from dissent.” ― Roger Ebert

***

When she came to, Darcy had no way of knowing how long she'd been unconscious. All that greeted her bleary sight was the sidelong view from the grimy concrete floor of a barred cell. She squinted in the dingy flickering fluorescent light forcing herself to focus beyond the rusted bars. She could see two men in black tac suits standing guard with their backs to her. They had guns in the holsters on their belts, along with pepper spray, flash grenades, and batons. So that was significantly not awesome. Still, since they hadn't noticed she was awake yet, she had a minute to evaluate her current situation.

Where was she?

How long had she been out?

And where was Eddie? And Venom? Were there other cells here like this one? Were they-

Darcy had tried to sit up, which caused the whole room to spin like a carnival ride. She quickly flattened herself to the ground again, swallowing a colorful curse along with a wave of nausea. She stayed there for a moment and just breathed, and breathed, and when it didn't feel like the room was pirouetting, she opened her eyes again.

As she was blinking to clear her vision, she noticed a shadow on the floor that didn't seem to change with the shuddering of the feeble light overhead. Rolling over to examine further, she realized it was coming from a narrow ventilation window high up on the wall. She could see a thin slit of black sky, which told her it was still night. Perhaps she hadn't been out that long. Or maybe it was the next night. Or the next. Or the-

Nope. Thinking about that was making her more swimmy-headed than her actual head injury.

Speaking of which, this wasn't the first time she'd been knocked senseless in the line of internship duty. She kept herself close to the floor for the time being and gently probed her temple, finding a puffy bruise extending down along her cheekbone but no immediate signs of bleeding or broken bones. And she could see pretty well when the room wasn't spinning so probably no damage to her eye. So there was that at least, but she could barely sit upright without the room impersonating a roulette wheel. A concussion was probable. So that meant standing was out of the question, much less walking… so...

Fuck, she was in so much trouble.

Nevermind how much trouble Eddie was in. Venom was knocked clean out of him. What the fuck had happened? Had they really brought some kind of sound cannon to deal with Venom? That must've been what Eddie had meant when he said certain frequencies of sound were a problem for symbiotes. 

She looked around herself again, slowly so as to avoid more vertigo. She inventoried the cell finding no furniture. Not even the ubiquitous bucket. It occurred to her that she didn't even know if she was still in Ft. Joliet. They might've moved her while she was out. She might be able to jump and tug herself up to look out the window, but there was no way that she'd be getting out through it. It was just too narrow. And besides, just thinking about trying that made her head spin violently. She wasn't sure she could even stand without toppling over, much less climb.

This was bad. This was really, _really_ bad.

A wet, slurping sound above her head drew her attention away from her own misery. She looked up again and saw a wet, black shape slithering in through the ventilation window, oozing down along the wall and heading straight for her. She crab walked back a few stumbling steps before it stopped in front of her and began to writhe idly in place on the floor.

She frowned, sitting forward on her knees. "Venom?" she asked, her voice barely above a whisper.

The black mass seemed to swell a little at being addressed, inching closer. 

"Venom! I'm so glad you're here." she hissed, as the symbiote continued to creep closer. "We must still be at Joliet then. I don't know where Eddie is. I don't know what to do, Venom. I don't know how to get out of here. And even if I could, I'm reasonably certain I have a concussion. I can't even stand, much less-" She stopped, and they seemed to rear up almost as if waiting for her to continue. As if they knew what she was about to suggest. And was excited for it. 

"Can you get us out of here?" Darcy asked. "Like... with me, I mean? Like… give me the fancy powers so we can go find Eddie and get the fuck away from here?"

In response, the writhing mass crept up to cover Darcy's knees. A head-like protrusion extended towards her face, almost as if Venom was giving her a sniff. Like a curious cat.

Darcy blinked, trying to focus on the semi-formed goo that swayed in front of her face. "I'll… take that as a "yes." Come on, V. I know I'm not your usual ride but… here." She put out both her hands and Venom reached out and latched eagerly onto her fingers. For a brief second, Darcy felt like she'd dunked her hands in that sticky Gak slime she'd played with as a kid. But then there was another disgusting squelch and suddenly Venom wasn't on her lap anymore. They weren't between her hands or on her fingers. They were just gone.

Except they weren't.

Darcy felt hot instantly. As if she were instantly running a scalding, hallucination-inducing fever. Her skin itched and stretched and creaked as she swayed on the spot. It felt too tight on her bones. Too tight everywhere. Her blood felt like it was suddenly roiling in her veins. Almost as if it had thickened, and had begun to race with newfound adrenaline. And her head pounded in time with her galloping pulse. But strangely… it didn't seem to hurt anymore. 

But most distractingly of all was the fact that Darcy could _feel_ her teeth in her mouth. She’d never been more acutely aware of how the root of each tooth set into the bone of her jaw. How slick and tight each socket was. How sharp. How needy. How-

“I feel sick.” she heard herself say in a thick voice as she put her hands on her temples. For a moment as she struggled with the writhing nausea in her gut, the only response was her own labored breathing rasping in her ears. Until she realized that it wasn't her breathing…

**Darcy…**

"Oh Jesus…" she whispered to herself, doubling over her knees as if being closer to the floor might help. The sound of her name in a voice not her own crawled in her skull and coiled around her ribs, simultaneously making it very difficult to hold onto her dinner and tickling her to the point she was almost giddy. 

**Do not speak.** Venom gently instructed. **I will get us out of here.**

She just nodded. She couldn't speak if she wanted to. Not without redecorating the cell and probably garnering the attention of the guards. Breathing felt strange. Like she was breathing water… or something thicker than water. She nearly gagged again around the thought, forcing herself to swallow instead and realizing she was drooling with the effort of not puking.

"What happened to you back in the lab?" She scraped for her voice, but for all the effort, the words came out as barely more than a whisper.

**Sound. The bad sounds. Fortunately, when I was forced out of Eddie, I fell on a drain in the floor. These scientists… they knew we would come. I heard the guards talking in the lab as I escaped. They could not reanimate the dead symbiotes from the LIFE Foundation or splice their DNA into that of a human host, but they realized they didn't need to when we revealed ourselves in the recruitment office.**

"Shit." Darcy spat the word out a little too forcefully, making her stomach roil unsteadily again. She clamped her teeth shut in case she was about to be sick. And when she did, she could feel them again. Her teeth. She could feel her fucking teeth in her fucking skull. Slick, and hard, and sharp. Filed together like little soldiers ready to tear-

She gagged again, feeling sweat trickle down the back of her neck.

**I am sorry this is unpleasant.** Venom sounded truly contrite. **Eddie struggled as well at first.**

_Understatement of the century._ Darcy thought, hoping the sentiment made it to Venom. She really couldn't talk right now. Not without risking puking. She felt like she needed to take a billion freezing cold showers and probably to swallow the nozzle of a working pressure washer. And yet… revulsion wasn't what she felt. Not really. The sensation that she felt in her stomach. It wasn't just nausea. There was a clawing… coiling… serpentine…

**_Hungry…_** she felt herself think involuntarily, her inner voice no longer just her own. And she swallowed again so hard it almost hurt.

"You feel like driving?" Darcy managed to ask. "Because I am not going to be able to walk right now."

**I got us.** came the eager reply.

The words kindled her confidence, despite their current situation. And there was a fondness rooted in them that let Darcy relax into that certainty. She forced herself to take a deep breath in spite of the strange, sticky sensation in her lungs and found she felt a little less rotten for the effort. "Then take me for a ride." She whispered making herself smile, and she found she was enjoying the feeling of the air on her teeth.

How was that a thing? Fuck, this was weird.

But Venom… Venom used her voice and laughed. A crawling sound. Musical and alien. And Darcy felt that giddiness again. That hunger that was more than hunger. 

**My pleasure.** Came the reply.

Blackness enveloped her like a shroud, and suddenly the furnace-like fevered heat she'd been experiencing was gone in favor of a sort of cloistered warmth. Like being securely wrapped in an electric blanket. She could feel her limbs moving. Sense that she was being propelled forward on all fours. And that she was taller. That was probably the nicest of all these new sensations. But they were merely that. Sensations. She was just floating in the experience. 

Just along for the ride.

She could dimly see out of her own eyes… or were they Venom's eyes now that they were slit-like and broad? They had lunged forward and were tearing apart the bars like toothpicks. And then they'd been diving at the guards and biting into their heads and bursting them like grapes. Socket joints gave with sickening and delightfully satisfying pops. Blood and things thicker than blood coated their ravening teeth.

Teeth… so _hungry..._

No wonder Eddie ate enough curry to feed the whole of Avengers HQ. If he felt like this all the time? Jesus.

It was strange feeling her body move without her input, and even stranger to feel things moving on her body that didn't belong to her. That prehensile tongue for one thing. Being able to vaguely sense that thing was trippy. Especially tasting with it. She would have shuddered if she'd had control of her body. But again, not entirely out of revulsion. She was rapidly learning that the gnawing hunger that came packaged with the whole symbiote experience was a shared sensation. Venom was probably getting some feedback from her too.

With the guards dispatched and other cells in the block found to be empty, they bounded on all fours out the door of what turned out to be one of the barracks. A few twists and turns later had them back in the lab creeping between the rows of equipment.

_Venom… Venom._ Darcy thought to herself. To both of them really in an effort to get their attention. 

**Yes?**

_Let me have the wheel again._ she said. _Just keep me upright and moving. We'll be more inconspicuous as me._

Venom gave a grunt of disagreement. "You're too fragile. If they catch you-"

_They don't know I have you, Venom._ She explained. _They just know I escaped. You're still unaccounted for as far as they are concerned. So if we run across the dude with the sound cannon, he probably won't use it on me right away and we'll be able to get the drop on them. You feel me?_

There was another growl and Darcy felt control return to her. She swayed a little as her vision cleared, feeling Venom's lingering presence in her muscles as they kept her steady on her feet. She took a few steps, balancing herself against the row of acrylic tanks that she was half-hiding behind. She didn't feel too wobbly, but that feverish, overheated feeling was definitely back. She'd just have to take it nice and easy. If all hell broke loose, she'd just hand the reins back to Venom. She definitely wasn't moving anywhere fast feeling like hot garbage.

**I'm sorry.** Darcy heard Venom's voice again. **Eddie struggled to adjust. And I was not terribly helpful at the time.**

Darcy swallowed. This seriously felt like that time she was coming down with the stomach flu. Not quite to puking-time just yet, but it felt imminent. _I'm sure you did your best, V._

There was a beat of silence. **I would do things differently now.**

Darcy sort of blinked to herself. There was a lot to unpack there, and no time to do it in at the moment. _That's what matters, V. I mean… you're doing it now? For me?_

Venom gave a purring sort of sound that felt like velvet was being rubbed on the inside of Darcy's skull. **I take care of you like I take care of Eddie. That's how this works.** Their words were measured in cadence, almost as if they were reciting something.

_Y-yeah. Yeah, that's… that's how it works. Thanks, V._ Darcy felt herself frown a little, wishing she had time to parse that very loaded statement as well. But she didn't. They had to find Eddie and get the hell out of here. 

Darcy paused by the last incubator in the row she was using for cover and peeked out into the room. Sure enough, those same three guards that had attacked them before stood outside a bay of containment cells at the foot of the winding metal stairs. And of course one of them was toting the weird sound-cannon thing. Great. So a frontal assault was out. But so was sneaking by or around. She could see Eddie in the cell beyond, and there would be no getting to him any way other than through those guards. He was bait, she quickly surmised.

_Shit._ She thought, dropping back against the incubator and sliding down to the floor. _You seeing this, V?_

Something in her rib cage thrilled at the nickname everytime she said it. She didn't have time to parse that either, but she would definitely keep using it. **Yes.** Venom's voice rumbled in her thoughts. **And I see Eddie.**

_Got any ideas?_

There was a moment of silence, and Darcy could feel Venom coiling and uncoiling in her brain as they thought. **You said to get the drop on them, yes?**

Darcy nodded carefully so as not to make herself dizzy.

Venom gave a thoughtful grumble before replying. **Climb.**

_Climb? Climb what? The wall?_

**Yes.**

Darcy felt her whole frame draw up in a frown as her eyes raked up the bare cinder block wall. _Can we… we can do that?_

She swore she could feel Venom smile. Felt her own lip curl with their amusement, and fought the urge to run her tongue along her teeth. **Yes. We can.** They replied. **Eddie rarely lets me. He's afraid of heights.**

Darcy shook her head as she was staring up at the rafters. _V, sometime when it's not life or death… I wanna see the works._

**It would be my pleasure.**

_Alright._ She hauled herself to her feet. _Here goes nothing._

**I got us.** Venom said again, and as before it wasn't so much their tone as the little kick of emotion that accompanied those words. Affection perhaps? Excitement? Again, Darcy wished she had more time to turn it all over in her head, but apparently she had a sheer concrete wall to climb.

Darcy positioned herself so that she would be hidden from view by one of the concrete supports as she scaled the wall. She set one worn tennis shoe against the bricks and pushed up. She had felt certain she would slip, but her fingers seemed inexplicably able to grip the mortar and the tread of her shoes caught against the grain of the concrete. Up and up and up she went like one of those sticky-footed lizards until she reached the rusted cross beams in the ceiling and pulled herself astride one. She looked down at the cement floor over a hundred feet below and swooned a little to see how high they were.

**I got us.** Venom assured her again. 

_I know, V. It's just… that's a human reaction even if you're not scared of heights. Down should not be that far away. I'm okay._

Venom grunted in response but said nothing else.

Darcy took a moment to survey their new position. _So… can we just hop skip and jump across these beams and position ourselves over top of them?_ She asked. _Then we could just… y'know…_ She clawed at the air with one hand and clacked her teeth together. _Rawr… Death from above?_

Venom grunted again. **Death from above. I like it.** They responded. **Let me carry us there.**

_Go for it. Just don't… Nice and easy, okay? Don't give us away or they'll blast us out of the air and I'm not likely to survive that fall._

**Understood.** Venom replied before seeping out into Darcy's limbs again. She was still herself. No veil of black had overtaken her yet as it had back in the barracks, but she could feel Venom's presence rooting into her arms and legs… feel her blood thicken and her muscles bulge. Her body snapped into action, obeying commands she wasn't giving, but neither was she fighting. She just let herself be puppeted along through the rafters, jumping nimbly from beam to beam as if she were Hawkeye or Captain America. It was a pretty incredible feeling, she wasn't going to lie. So long as she didn't look down. She could keep herself from interfering so long as she didn't look down.

Venom perched them directly above the guard with the sound cannon and Darcy felt them take a breath that was somewhat in concert. **Ready?** They asked, their voice

Darcy was barely risking breathing up here, let alone a whisper. She just nodded as she stood up on the beam, arms out for balance at first. She teetered and swayed a little on the narrow beam, but then she dropped her hands to her side. Why bother? Venom wasn't going to let her fall. They'd scaled a bare concrete wall a second ago. They had her. It was all good.

She smiled to herself in that moment. Partly because she could feel Venom's anticipation and hunger, on the verge of being sated by the ill-fated shitheads below. Those guards were between them and Eddie, and they were about to pay dearly for that mistake. But also, Darcy smiled because she was totally about to pull a superhero stunt. The classic swan-dive out of the rafters. Like she was fucking Black Widow or some shit. 

This was actually amazing. The literal best. No one back at Avengers HQ would believe _any_ of this, even if she could tell them.

She raised up on her toes and let herself begin to tilt forward, arms spread and face up. But she forced her legs and back to stay straight as she tipped forward and forward... And just like that, she was plummeting off her perch. Her gut clenched instinctively as she felt gravity inexorably take hold and pull her down to the waiting concrete. 

But she wouldn't fall. Not really. Venom was going to catch her, and there was a certainty in that feeling that was brand new to Darcy. She'd never been so certain of anything in her life before that leap of faith. They had her.

They.

_We._

As she fell, she understood a little of Eddie's smile when he'd said, "We are Venom." It had seemed an odd bit of phrasing at the time. But not anymore.

And Venom, of course, did not betray her trust. Darcy felt the inky caul of the symbiote's full presence wrap over her the instant before they hit the concrete. They landed squarely on the shoulders of the center guard, crushing him to the floor in a crunchy, bloody pulp and sending the sound cannon skittering well out of reach. The other two guards had a split second to shout in alarm before Venom shot out a tentacle each, firmly wrapping them around the waist and squeezing until both of them tore in half with a wet squelch.

_Yikes._ Darcy thought out loud.

**A quicker death than either deserved.** Venom snarled, tongue waving as they spoke. They flung the carcasses of the guards aside as they carried Darcy towards the cell door in eager strides.

_Not hungry?_ She asked.

**No time.** Venom said. **We need to get to Eddie.**

_That is a better priority._ Darcy agreed. _Cannon first though. Hopefully, this is the only one they have and another is not on its way._

Venom snarled before rearing back and stomping on the cannon, sending splintered fiberglass and wiring in all directions. Then they returned at least partial control to Darcy once more, melting back into her petite frame as they hurried up the stairs.

Darcy noticed this time that she didn't feel dizzy anymore. She barely swooned as true sensation returned. She reached up and touched her temple finding it noticeably less bruised and puffy. "V?" The nickname was a question.

**I've been fixing you.**

Darcy smiled and shook her head. No wonder she felt better. "You are the literal best. Chocolate for you when we make it out of here."

**And kisses?**

She actually laughed a little then. She couldn't help it. "All the kisses, V. All of them."

There was a preening purr in response that reverberated soothingly in her skull.

She moved to the door, looking beyond the double-paned and no doubt everything-proof glass. Eddie sat slumped and restrained in an examination chair, and mercifully he was alone. She could see that he was breathing, and honestly he didn't look too much worse off than Darcy felt, but that didn't necessarily mean anything. The sooner she could get Venom to him the better. Then they could assess and maybe even fix any major damage. But hopefully there wasn't any.

**No stickies with the passcode I take it?** Venom asked. Darcy could feel them peering out of her eyes at the lock on the door.

"Doubtful. And those guards might have a key, but I'd still need the code." Darcy bit her lip, and then fought distraction when she felt her teeth press into the soft skin. Jesus. How did Eddie concentrate on _anything?_ "Can we bash it in?"

**Happy to help.**

Darcy had the sensation of a warm liquid ripple flowing down her arm as she felt herself make a fist and raise it to eye level. As she watched, inky black tendrils wove between her fingers and over her knuckles until her tiny fist had tripled in size and was coated with writhing black symbiote-goo.

"Cool." she said as Venom drew her fist back and punched at the glass. It cracked, but only a little. This was going to take a minute.

**You should kiss him.** Venom hissed the suggestion into her brain as they bashed away at the door.

"WHAT? No!" Darcy half-shouted before she schooled her volume. "That would be weird."

**Kiss him when you reach him. It will make the transfer easier.**

Darcy snorted at that. "Bullshit. You can just jump out of me and slither to him. Or transfer by touch."

**KISS HIM!** Venom's voice roared in her skull, making her flinch with the rawness of it even as they wound up for another swing at the door.

"Dude," She said, grabbing her black-coated wrist and forcing them to pause mid-punch. "He probably doesn't want a kiss from the intern he barely knows right now. He's going to wake up and have no idea where he is or what the hell is going on. Plus, y'know, he and I are going to play it cool til this is done, remember?" And having made what she thought was a sound argument, she went back to whaling on the door. They were through the first pane of glass and the second was beginning to crack. They threw a few more punches in relative quiet before Venom spoke again.

**He's kissed you before.** They pointed out more than a little sullenly. **Why wouldn't he want you to kiss him now?"**

Darcy couldn't suppress a laugh despite a valiant effort. "Venom. Dude. It sounds like _you're_ the one that wants to kiss him."

Venom gave an indignant grunt. And admittedly Darcy was very new to reading the body language of something that was present in _her_ body, but she was pretty sure they were having a sulk.

"Look, V. No shame. I'm glad to see him too. And y'know what? I'm probably going to kiss him. But only once he's awake and knows who I am, okay?"

There was no answer, but an exasperated growl rattled her skull. Darcy couldn't help but find room in her thoughts for an affectionate laugh as well as the second pane of glass finally gave and the laminate tore free. 

She did kiss Eddie when she reached him, but not before she touched his face to get his attention. "Eddie? Eddie, honey are you in there?" His brow puckered a little and his eyes tried to open, but he'd been knocked out cold. That or drugged. 

Venom took their cue and slipped out of her fingers and into his skin, eager to help their host. But Darcy gave the symbiote what they wanted before they left her completely. She kissed him, gently so as not to aggravate his visibly split lip as Venom soaked into Eddie's bloodstream. She tried not to think too hard about the fact that she could literally feel the wound close under her mouth. And his ribs knitting together beneath her hands as the symbiote took root once more. Eddie's eyes fluttered open and after a second of hazy blinking he managed to focus on her face.

"Darcy." Eddie whispered with a ragged, relieved smile. He took a full deep breath, and seemed surprised to discover that it no longer felt like he was breathing in rusty nails. "You… you're okay. And you brought Venom."

"Yeah, he came and found me in the barracks when he couldn't get to you." Darcy said, smoothing his hair back off his forehead. "And for the record, not that I'm not into kissing you, but that kiss was from them."

Eddie smiled, and actually very nearly laughed. "Yeah, they like to do that. And they also say that's bullshit."

"Look, who are you going to believe? " She said standing back as Eddie tore out of his restraints with a surge of help from Venom. "The symbiote with a frankly impressive lack of impulse control rivaled only by Tony Stark, or the poli-sci major who has written papers on consent laws."

Eddie gave another smile as he shook himself free of the tattered straps. "They say your papers are full of shit and that you wanted to kiss me too."

"Well, they're half right." Darcy pulled him to his feet with a smirk. "Let's get the hell out of here."

Eddie looked like he might be contemplating kissing her again, but a sound from the lab drew their attention: the rhythmic pounding of combat boots on concrete.

"Oh fuck me." Darcy swore, turning in a rather pitiful little circle as she scanned the room. "There's not another way out of this cell is there? Other than-" She turned mid-sentence and looked at the window.

“Not that I kno- What? NO! Not this again.” Eddie cut her off, making Darcy wheel around to see him visibly arguing with Venom. "We've been through this. I don't like heights. We'll get out another way."

“What? What're they saying?” Darcy asked, keeping one eye on the door. The bootfalls were getting closer. What if they had another sound cannon thingy? They would be so screwed.

“They want me to jump out the window.” Eddie answered, flailing an arm at the window. "Both of us actually."

She took a step towards the window and peered out just to gauge the drop. “That’s not a bad idea actually. We should head out through the barracks again for cover. Bust the locks there as we pass. I have a feeling I wasn't the only one held in there.”

Eddie blinked hard. “You mean… you… Jesus, you are both certifiably insane.”

“What? They're not going to drop you.”

“And what about you?” Eddie asked, a little hysterical.

“They won’t drop me either. Here, catch!" She hopped into Eddie's arms and he reflexively caught her in something resembling a bridal carry. "Because if they drop me, they don’t get chocolate. Now stop being a pussy and let’s get the hell out of here!”

Eddie blinked at her again, reading the determination and confidence writ in every line of Darcy's face. "Copy that." he huffed. "You're both still insane."

"And that's why we work so well together." Darcy said, snugging her arms around his neck. "They've got us, Eddie. Let's go!"

He huffed a defeated sigh and nodded. Blackness wept out of every pore on Eddie's body, wrapping him once more in the fearsome visage of Venom. Darcy's breath caught, seeing them up close again like this. They were frightening. That many teeth. And that fucking tongue. It was like the fear of heights. No amount of upper-brain reasoning could snuff out her lizard-brain screaming that all those teeth were about to eat her.

But Darcy squeezed her arms tight around the thickly cabled muscles in Venom's neck. They had her. Eddie and Venom had her. She saw they'd paused to look at her, milk-white eyes narrowing as they watched her face.

"I'm good." she whispered. "Go be a hero."

Venom's thin lips curled back further off their needle-like teeth and in two bounds they had hurled themselves through the window.

***


	10. To Make You Understand How It Felt

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The kids had in fact been on site, just as Eddie and Darcy had suspected. Freeing them from the barracks had just been a matter of busting some locks, eating a few guards, and then sprinting for their stashed motorcycle before any of the kids saw them. A quick phone call from one of Eddie's burners on the way back to Chicago had cops and ambulances swarming from every direction as Eddie and Darcy sped city-wards via the back roads.
> 
> They hit the door of their hotel room laughing hysterically. Nothing was particularly funny. Nothing save the fact that they'd fucking survived going toe-to-toe with a creepy military research corporation straight out of the most paranoid science-fiction movie imaginable. That fact was absolutely hilarious. And thanks to Venom's field medic act, they were relatively unscathed. Somehow that was hilarious as well. Especially to Darcy, who kept squishing her cheekbone and marveling at the absence of a bruise. Maybe it was just the adrenaline making them more than a little hysterical than seemed normal, but none of them were thinking about it too hard. They were just grateful to be alive.
> 
> And still together. All three of them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Monday everyone!!!
> 
> Hope you all had a lovely weekend, and if you haven't gotten to a theatre to see Captain Marvel, get going! I haven't had that much just pure fun in a movie... maybe since Ragnarok? Or Guardians 1? It's a fantastic time in the theatre. 
> 
> Anyway, on to this morning's update! Just as a warning, this chapter is very much NSFW. XD
> 
> Many thanks to my beta readers on this one KaminaDuck and musicnerd88! I could not do this without you!
> 
> And thank YOU for all the support, kudos, and kind comments!

Chapter 10: To Make You Understand How It Felt

"My idea of fiction is that it’s different from, say, journalism because journalism’s job is to tell you what happened, and fiction to some degree is to make you understand how it felt to go through a certain experience. And the difference between what happened versus how it felt sometimes requires the fantastical or the impossible or the strange, just to make you understand how powerfully an event affects a person." - Victor LaValle

***

The kids had in fact been on site, just as Eddie and Darcy had suspected. Freeing them from the barracks had just been a matter of busting some locks, eating a few guards, and then sprinting for their stashed motorcycle before any of the kids saw them. A quick phone call from one of Eddie's burners on the way back to Chicago had cops and ambulances swarming from every direction as Eddie and Darcy sped city-wards via the back roads.

They hit the door of their hotel room laughing hysterically. Nothing was particularly funny. Nothing save the fact that they'd fucking survived going toe-to-toe with a creepy military research corporation straight out of the most paranoid science-fiction movie imaginable. That fact was absolutely hilarious. And thanks to Venom's field medic act, they were relatively unscathed. Somehow that was hilarious as well. Especially to Darcy, who kept squishing her cheekbone and marveling at the absence of a bruise. Maybe it was just the adrenalin making them more than a little hysterical than seemed normal, but none of them were thinking about it too hard. They were just grateful to be alive.

And still together. All three of them.

"Let me check the cloud transfers." Eddie said, popping his laptop open on the desk as Darcy took the liberty of retrieving two beers from the mini-fridge. "They smashed my phone of course, but the uploads should have gone through in real time." As he clattered away at the keyboard, Darcy cracked the bottles open, setting one on the desk next to him and leaning her elbows on his chair. After a moment, Eddie scooped up his beer, and they clinked bottlenecks before dissolving into another round of ridiculous and relieved laughter.

"We should not have made it out of there." Darcy said, resting her chin on Eddie's shoulder and watching as the transfer history crawled across the screen.

"We've made it out of tighter places." Eddie replied, tapping meaningfully on his chest before taking a pull off his beer. 

"I bet." Darcy said, snugging her arms around his shoulders a little.

Eddie twisted a little in his seat so he could face her. "So I hear you took Venom for a ride, huh?"

"More like he took me for one." Darcy bugged her eyes out and took a long drink, hoping the cool liquid would quell the memory of Venom's feverish presence. As awesome as the experience had been (especially the swan-dive out of the rafters… that was so fucking cool), it was still more than a little unsettling to remember how it had felt with the symbiote crawling around in her skin.

"You uh… enjoy the trip?"

She shrugged, still resting her chin on his shoulder. "It's um… not awful honestly?" she answered with a thoughtful little wrinkle of her nose. "But it would take some getting used to. Definitely enjoyed impersonating a superhero for a minute or two there though."

"Yeah?"

"Oh yeah." she said, knocking back another swallow. "Not quitting my day-job however."

"No?" Eddie quirked an eyebrow at her.

"Nah. They're yours." Darcy shook her head, giving Eddie a pat on the chest. "And I'm not interested in shopping for one of my own. Even if I didn't live with a bunch of actual superheroes, I've seen enough bad sci-fi movies to know trying to get something like that for myself on purpose is just asking for trouble."

Eddie snorted. "I hear that." A soft chime from his computer made him he sat forward to look at the screen. "Oh hey. Looks like the data's all there. I'll start downloading it and we can sift through it all tomorrow."

"Sweet."

Eddie twisted in his chair to face her again, and for a space they just stared at each other. He oscillated back and forth, his knees knocking against hers as the tension in the tiny room drew up tighter and tighter.

"You feel okay?" Darcy asked.

"Good as new." Came the reply with a knowing smile that was sharp enough that Darcy knew it wasn't fully his. It didn't make her skin crawl like it used to though.

"Good… good…" She trailed off awkwardly. "Hey, listen I... " she stopped herself short and blew her breath out through pursed lips in an effort to starve the rest of the sentence. And for good measure she took another drink in an effort to shut herself up as well. What she'd been about to suggest was a terrible idea and...

But Eddie took her hand, balancing her palm on the backs of his fingers. "What is it, doll?" he asked in an infuriatingly gentle tone.

She bit her lip and then thought to hell with it. He'd asked, so she blurted out what she'd been wanting to say since they hit the hotel room. "Do we have to wait? Like for the end of the internship? Because I'm feeling like some epic "Yay, we didn't die!" sex if you're game."

A boyish and slightly bashful smile spread across Eddie's face as he hauled himself to his feet, pulling Darcy to him. He loomed over her small frame from this close, resting his hands on her hips as they shared space. Darcy couldn't help but lay her hands on his chest, right at the collar of his t-shirt where she'd touched him and let Venom transfer not too long ago. And she felt a strange little ache in the pit of her stomach for the creature that she knew swam just under her palms. They had been dutiful and patient and precise when she'd been housing them. She wished she could somehow repay the favor… and she'd gotten attached in those few moments she realized...

"I've got us." they had said. It was nice to be… had. It had felt nice.

But just as she was becoming aware and more acutely certain of these things, she could see the trepidation shifting behind Eddie's slate gray eyes, even though he hadn't moved away from her. If anything he seemed to be listing closer, even as his thoughts were back pedaling.

"What is it?" Darcy asked, her brows knitting as her stomach sank sourly. "Look you can say no, and it won't hurt my feelings. I mean… you're right that it's probably not a good idea given the internship and all, but I just-"

Darcy made to move away but Eddie caught her hands, pressing them to the flat of his chest. But he ducked his head, giving it a little shake as he muttered, "I… 's not the internship. Not just that anyway. It's a good excuse, and honestly probably smart. But… the internship and all that… us working together. That's not why I'm… hesitating. Why I'm-" He flinched a little, eyes rolling at some internal argument.

Darcy felt the corner of her mouth pull. "Venom saying their peace?"

Eddie's lips twisted in a longsuffering grin. "A little."

She huffed out a little laugh, giving Eddie's shoulders a playful shake. "Venom? Let him talk, please. This is kind of important." she chided. 

He shot her a grateful look before he continued. "I just… We're kind of... a lot. Y'know?"

"Yeah, I got the five minute tutorial version."

"And you still want in on this?" Eddie arched an eyebrow.

"Basically yeah." she answered, giving a one shouldered shrug. "I mean… I know more now than I did before we left for Joliet." 

"I didn't want to wait just… just because of the professionalism thing, y'know?"

"I'm starting to gather." Darcy replied, her tone careful.

"I mean… I'm sure we're both perfectly capable of keeping casual sex casual… I just…" He looked away again.

Her eyebrows began a slow march towards her hairline. "You're not wanting casual?"

Eddie licked his lips twice before he just gave up and nodded, all the while still staring at the thinning hotel room carpet. " _We_ wouldn't be very good at casual." he finally settled on saying.

Darcy was a little bowled over, but something in her blossomed rather than shrank away from this revelation. She cupped Eddie's scruffy chin and turned his head so he would look at her, and he complied, tame and gentle as a kitten at her touch. "We'll wait if you want. We can forget I asked and just… however you want to handle it. Whatever makes you comfortable..."

Eddie let his cheek sink into her palm. "Whatever makes me comfortable? I'm only human, doll." He paused to chuckle at the unintended joke. "It's not like I don't want to pound you through that mattress. I just… I don't want you getting more than you bargained for."

"Pretty sure I have the best idea possible of what I'm bargaining for." She replied with a confident smile, leaning into him a little and feeling his arms slip more snugly around her. "Maybe Venom is the one getting more than they bargained for. Two wimpy human suckers to look after?"

Eddie really did laugh then. "I don't think that would dissuade them."

"Too bad this isn't a democracy then, or you'd be out-voted."

"Oh definitely." Eddie agreed, smiling for a moment before his expression turned searching and serious again. "You're sure about this?"

"Only if you are." Darcy answered. "Both of you."

"Oh Venom definitely is. Trust me." Eddie said.

"Well, that's good then."

A fondly bewildered smile pulled at Eddie's lips. "How are you so fearless?"

"I'm not." Darcy shrugged. "I'm just… I've got no reason to be afraid of this."

Eddie nodded vaguely his hands sliding up to the small of her back, cradling her even closer. "You should know um… It's been… awhile for me."

"Awhile." she repeated, clearly chewing on the word a little. "Meaning…"

He dropped his gaze again. "Since… before." she felt him making a nebulous gesture against the small of her back.

Darcy didn't need to ask for further clarification. And she did her level best to keep her face neutral as she took in what he was implying. Since before… _before._ Wow. Okay then.

"They're… Venom's always around, you know?" Eddie went on, the blush on his cheeks deepening with every word." And it would feel wrong to do anything with someone who didn't know, but by the same turn...Well, you got to experience it. I've gotten used to them, but just… they're always there. For… everything."

Darcy swallowed thickly but didn't pull away as an awkward recollection sprang to mind. "Yeah, I kinda gathered that. Both from personal experience and… Well, I might've accidentally overheard you two in the shower the other day."

Pink flooded Eddie's cheeks and he buried his face against her shoulder. "Oh God… shit, I am so sorry..."

She wound her arms around him tight. "Hey… look, it's whatever. I had one of those roommates in college. I just put in my earbuds and went on with my business."

Eddie looked up at her, that baffled smile pulling at his lips again. "Went on with your business." He repeated a little incredulously. "While you knew full well what weirdness was going on in the bathroom."

She shrugged. "Admittedly, I did my level best not to think about it. I've learned to just roll with weird shit that's not actively trying to eat me. But look… Eddie, if you want to go slower, we'll go slower. Or even just not at all. It's seriously up to you. I just… the adrenalin made me itchy and I just thought that maybe-"

Eddie cut her off with a searing kiss that nearly made her legs buckle. A surprised little mewling sound escaped from her lips into his and he greedily ate it up along with a little suck on the softness of her bottom lip. 

Darcy pulled back, feeling a startled flush creeping into her cheeks. "You're good? Seriously? Because if you're not, I get the shower first."

Eddie nodded. "We're good."

"Good." she said, before taking her turn to pounce him in return, planting him with a scalding kiss of her own and sucking his tongue into her mouth as she dragged him back towards the bed. They kicked their shoes off as they went, stumbling and refusing to let their lips stray far.

Darcy was a little surprised when she wound up on top of him once they collapsed onto the bed. Under her tiny frame he was pliant as anything, arching back, pushing his ribs and the taut lines of his muscles against her questing hands. Darcy had never seen anything quite like it. She had been prepared for a lot of things, but Eddie laid out under her pretty as a picture and already moaning and panting for her… that was not something she had expected. And it tugged at something in her… something that had been quiet and still for a long time. Something she hadn't ever quite been sure was there to begin with. But as in all things, she just rolled with it.

"This what you want, babe?" Darcy asked, skimming her hands up the front of his shirt, watching him bow off the bed to chase her touch. He looked like a dream. And she didn't even have his clothes off yet.

"Yeah…" he sighed, his voice gone sweet and hazy.

Darcy had planned to go slow. Maybe take her cues from him, but right now the only signal he was giving was that she wasn't touching him enough. And his clothes were part of the problem, so she quickly dragged his shirt over his head as she lowered herself astride his hips.

For a moment as she stared down at him, all higher brain function for Darcy went completely out the window. He really was a fucking dream. How in the hell did she manage to get here. Those muscles and that hefty collection of tattoos. The way he moved. The way he was already panting and a little red-faced. It was like he was already begging for her to-

"What?" Eddie asked with the sweetest little smile.

Darcy had to stare at him for a moment to determine that he'd asked the question seriously.

"You don't ever look in the mirror do you?"

The handsome blush that he'd been nursing since their conversation about he and Venom in the shower had begun to creep down under the tattoos that painted his chest. And Darcy resolved to see if she could lick it off his skin. 

Could Venom feel him blush, she wondered as she dragged her tongue over the careful line-work that decorated his sternum. How much could they feel of her tongue and her kisses? Questions for another time. Right now she just wanted Eddie to feel amazing. And Venom too, if she could figure out how to manage it. Eddie had said that Venom could see and feel everything so...

He continued to chase the touch of her fingertips as she traced the contours of his muscles and the lines and angles of his tattoos. When he reached up to touch her in turn, she caught his wrists in either hand and pinned them gently to the bed before laying a kiss on his full lips. They parted easy as anything as she licked into the fevered heat of his mouth. He felt warm all over. Warmer than her, even with his shirt off. Darcy wondered if that was just the blush or perhaps that was a byproduct of Venom's presence. She had felt like she was running a fever before after all…

The kiss drew out a sweetly needy moan from Eddie's throat and Darcy swallowed it down. "What do you want, babe?"

Eddie took a couple of shallow breaths as he twisted his wrists in her grip. Not in any real bid to escape, which he could certainly do even without Venom's help. It was more like he was just feeling her grip. The air between them had turned humid as he struggled for his voice. "Let me touch you."

Darcy released him and sat back, pulling her shirt over her head in a single smooth motion before ridding herself of her bra as well. When looked down again, she found Eddie staring up at her completely dumbfounded.

"Thought you wanted to touch?" She teased, skating her hands over the ample curve of her breasts, cupping them to give them a little bounce.

Eddie followed the path of her hands with his own, catching her breasts and thumbing lightly at her nipples. He seemed to be barely breathing save in little pants of air as he explored her curves with trembling fingers. Darcy hummed at the attention, letting him draw her closer until she was on all fours over him.

"Darcy…" he whispered her name as he finally let his lips drag over her skin, tracing a line between her collarbones and then down to catch one of her nipples. At first it was just all warm wet suction. Velvet soft and insistent. But then she felt teeth and something in her gut pulled taut.

_Teeth. ___

__She eased back on her haunches, her hips resting on his thighs. He stared up at her, eyes gone glassy and dark, and his plush lips parted. But his teeth looked normal. Everything looked normal._ _

__Darcy blinked once, slowly, and listened to nothing but the roaring of her pulse in her ears._ _

__Why did that strangely seem disappointing?_ _

__"I feel compelled to ask if Venom is enjoying this." Darcy said, cocking her head to feign indifference as Eddie continued to play with her._ _

__"They are." Eddie said, a little breathless. "They um… they really like the kissing."_ _

__"That so?" Darcy asked with a coquettish turn of her lips as she leaned forward again. Her breasts swayed in Eddie's face and it seemed he couldn't resist reaching out to give them a gentle, pillowing squeeze. She pressed into his touch as she covered his capacious mouth with her own in a slow, languorous kiss. She licked between his teeth, feeling how easily he opened up for her. How loudly he moaned against her lips, as if he were dying. Drowning. Desperate for whatever it was he found with her._ _

__Maybe they both were._ _

__Or would the math on that be… all three of them?_ _

__She really didn't have enough blood going upwards to parse any of that._ _

__"Tell me what else they like." she implored, dropping onto her elbows to card her fingers through Eddie's hair. Eddie chased the sensation, pushing into her nails as she dragged them lightly over his scalp. But he worried at his lips with his teeth as if biting back the first response that came to mind. "Go on." She encouraged, tugging lightly at his hair and earning herself a moan that was half pleasure and half piteous want. "You said they talk about me. What do they say?"_ _

__Eddie took a deep breath, unable to hold her gaze while he told her and settling for nuzzling at her wrist. "Venom likes the way you taste."_ _

__Darcy felt her eyebrow twitch. "Do they?"_ _

__"They say… you taste sweet. That you smell sweet."_ _

__Darcy gave him a quick, suckling kiss before imploring him to continue. "Do they want to take a bite?" she asked, feeling a little thrill of adrenaline at her own brazen bravery. What the hell was she going to do if the answer was yes?_ _

__"N-no…" Eddie shuddered around the word. "They want… they want more of what you're doing. Of what I'm doing. More… licking and tasting. They… They can't get enough of it. Neither can I.”_ _

__"Can't get enough, huh?"_ _

__"You don't understand, Darcy. That's… that's what Venom is. The symbiotes… they're _hunger._ And… you're a new type of hungry for them just like-" He closed his teeth with a click, hiding his face against the pillow._ _

__Darcy gently but firmly tugged on his chin to get him to look at her. Suddenly, this seemed important, and Darcy didn't want to let the chance for insight slip away. "What is it, babe? Just like what?"_ _

__"Just like I was." Eddie said, steadily holding her gaze._ _

__Darcy stilled over him, taking in the weight of that statement. "That's what you meant about… more than I bargained for."_ _

__He just nodded, swallowing hard to try and wet his mouth. "They're… they're going to _want_ you, Darcy. They already do. They-"_ _

__"I want to give them what they want. That goes for both of you." Darcy cut him off, kissing him again before she rolled off him, tugging at her jeans as she went._ _

__Suddenly, she wanted nothing more than to have his willing and clever fingers somewhere that could do more than tease. She wanted Venom too… but that was a much more amorphous desire. She just _wanted,_ and she remembered what that want had felt like when it was seated in her own bones. How she'd been feverish with it… she felt feverish now._ _

__Eddie seemed to be in favor of this turn of events though he didn't climb on top of her as she'd expected. He'd stayed curled up at her side, his free hand slipping down to knead her ass through her underwear._ _

__"God, yes." She groaned. "Help me get these off will you?"_ _

__Eddie looked up at her, his eyes gone sweet and wide as he leaned down towards her hips. And without breaking eye contact, he took the waistband of her underwear between his teeth and pulled them down her thighs._ _

__She watched, no doubt completely boggle-eyed for a moment before her head fell back against the bed, her curls fanning out under her. "Holy shit…" she muttered. She was expecting a lot of things out of Eddie Brock. This sort of stuff was no where on that list, but she was all kinds of here for it._ _

__Once she was completely free of clothing, Eddie was back curled up against her side, kissing her neck and whispering, "Tell me how you like it, doll. Let me make it good for you."_ _

___Holy shit._ This was really too good to be true. _ _

__"Go slow." she said, her hands finding his chest again. "But I'll warm up fast once we get going."_ _

__He gave a foggy little nod, his eyes still bright and liquid dark. "Alright. You drive."_ _

__Darcy settled back on the pillow, pulling one of his hands down between her legs, feeling his middle finger slip into the already slick folds of her pussy. He dragged that finger the full length of her entrance, watching and feeling her reaction, which was nothing short of open-mouthed, eyes-rolled-back enthusiasm. He found her clit easily with a second stroke, and Darcy gripped his elbow to guide him as he let the pad of one finger slide back and forth across it._ _

__"That's it." she groaned, her head falling back again. "Just like that."_ _

__"God, you look so good like this." Eddie moaned, kissing a line up the pulse of her throat._ _

__"Yeah?" Darcy said with a smile. It was hard not to preen with him fawning over her like this. "I look even better after I've come."_ _

__"Oh I bet." He said, a sweetly sloppy smile on his face. "I wanna eat you out one of these days."_ _

__"Mmm… I'd like that." she hummed, and tried very hard not to think about Venom's potential involvement in that._ _

__Well… maybe not too hard._ _

__Darcy tugged on his elbow, hoping to get a fingertip or more, and Eddie got the message. He let one digit slip inside, inhaling sharply at the sensation of her slick inner walls working around him. Following the rhythm of her direction, he started to pump the finger in and out, curling just slightly on the backswing and making her hips chase his hand up off the bed._ _

__"That's it… that's it…" she whispered like a mantra. "Eddie, just like that… just like…"_ _

__He kept it up, brow pinched in concentration. Darcy leaned up and tried to kiss the look from his face, but she ended up just dragging him down over her to clutch at his shoulders, their mouths meeting in a messy tangle of lips and tongue. The hot sensation of his mouth coupled with the incessant rhythm of that one stroking finger had her at the edge in no time._ _

__She didn't fight it. Just like she hadn't fought gravity's pull back at the lab in Joliet. She just let herself tip and tip and tip until suddenly it felt like the world was rushing by her. Pleasure welled up where he'd coaxed it out of her and she curled around his arm, driving herself down onto his hand and moaning his name as she came._ _

__Eddie kissed her as the aftershocks shook her, and for an ecstasy-fueled moment, Darcy was certain that the world began and ended with the sensation of his plush bottom lip between her teeth. He let his fingers slip out of her, but dug in her nails a little to make sure he kept one on her clit, massaging slow circles as she dropped back onto the pillow with the most contented sigh._ _

__"Good?" He asked, a knowing smile on his face._ _

__"Amazing…" She laughed the word out, sounding more than a little giddy. Her hips stuttered where she was still grinding against his fingers. "God, fuck I needed that. Gimme a second and I'll be good to go again. I just… fuck, that was good."_ _

__There was a beat of silence only punctuated by Darcy's heavy breath before Eddie let out a rather startled sounding chuckle. Darcy looked up to see him trying to stifle the sound with his fist and failing._ _

__"What's so funny?"_ _

__"Venom's exact words were, "What does she mean she can go again?" They're…" he paused to laugh again. "Multiple orgasms are a new thing for them."_ _

__Darcy's eyebrows arched as an intrigued smile spread on her face. "And do they like?"_ _

__"They want… to feel." Eddie said, the words balancing uncertainly on his tongue._ _

__"Oh." Darcy said, blinking quickly. "Oh. Is… can… is that a thing? Like… can we share? Or do they have to transfer all the way?"_ _

__A flickery little frown pulled at Eddie's brow as he clearly held a short internal conversation with Venom. "I… I think they can just… touch. If that's alright?"_ _

__"Of course" She replied, her face screwing up as she tried to think through the haze of pleasure and anticipation that clouded her brain. "Venom, it's alright. Let… Let me take you for a ride, darling."_ _

__"Really?" Eddie asked, and Darcy was sure that this wasn't just him asking._ _

__"Yeah. Really." she reassured them both, pulling Eddie over her like a blanket and knitting their free hands together on the pillow beside her head. She watched raptly as inky black tendrils, thin as spider-silk spun themselves between their fingers and along the crack between their forearms. All at once, she could feel Venom… hot and sinuous as he rooted himself in the veins of her arm. The skin flushed and tingled… almost as if that limb itself were running a fever, though no higher than to her elbow. It was a strange feeling, but not an unsettling or wholly unfamiliar one._ _

__"You wanna go again?" Darcy asked Eddie, tugging on his elbow a little, with a pleased smile._ _

__He nodded, slipping two fingers into her pussy this time and curling them against the sensitive spot he had found earlier. She followed the motion, arching up and gripping his arm as she met the press of his fingers. They found a rhythm again after only a few thrusts, her legs falling wantonly open as she chased the beckoning sensation. Eddie stole sloppy kisses from her open, panting mouth, often more teeth than anything else. Just _his_ teeth though. _ _

__He brought her to the edge of a climax even quicker the second time. She couldn’t stop herself from digging her nails into his arm as her second orgasm approached. She was practically riding his hand for this one, bringing them into the perfect rhythm for balancing herself on the edge for as long as she could stand it._ _

__Darcy pressed up to give him another biting kiss, and felt him repay her attention in kind. Though it was possible that it was not just Eddie this time. She might’ve imagined it, but she was almost certain that she felt a hooked point hang on her lip as he sucked the swollen flesh into his mouth. It might have just been a normal incisor… but it might've been Venom. She wasn't sure until she felt as much as she heard a hungry snarl work its way up Eddie's throat._ _

__And that was when she came, digging in her nails and moaning into the mouth above hers. Whether it was Eddie's or Venom's, she didn't know nor did she care as her orgasm washed over her. Eddie drew up taut against her as pleasure crashed through both of them in scalding waves._ _

__"Oh Jesus…" he ground the words out as his hand tightened around hers and his forehead dropped to rest against her shoulder._ _

__"Did… did you get… some of that… too?" she panted, slinging an arm around him to gather him against her._ _

__He just nodded open-mouthed, his breath coming in short, startled pants against her skin. "All of it, I think. Venom too…"_ _

__Delight tickled Darcy's voice. "Oh wow… this is going to be fun. This takes shared orgasms to a whole new level."_ _

__He just nodded again, shock and pleasure depriving him of words as he blinked to clear his vision._ _

__"I think it's your turn, don't you?" Darcy said, her knuckles sliding along his cheek. "You want me on top?"_ _

__"Yes…" There was a "please" buried in there somewhere and it did not slip past her notice. She pushed on his shoulder and he flopped onto his back, once again pliant as a lamb. Oh they were going to have a lot of fun things to explore together…_ _

__"Venom? You want to stick with us?" She asked. "I have a feeling you're in for a fun ride."_ _

__There was a hesitant moment of quiet, punctuated only by their breathing. Darcy half expected Venom to manifest somehow to answer, but they didn't. Not any more than the cobwebs that still stretched between their hands as they flipped over. Darcy tangled their fingers together again as she straddled his hips, the bulge of his erection obvious in his jeans. And she'd have been more focused on it were it not for the thin strands of symbiote that stretched and reformed between their fingers as they moved. It was beautiful in a way. Like gossamer silk in the sunshine..._ _

__"Are they saying anything?" Darcy asked hazily admiring their conjoined hands._ _

__"They… they wonder if you're going to come again." Eddie asked._ _

__Darcy smiled rather wickedly. "Oh, most assuredly." she replied with a mocking primness. "I take it they enjoyed that first one?"_ _

__Eddie nodded trying in vain to wet his mouth . "Venom… they… that chemical rush you get when you come? You know like… the endorphins and such..." he was struggling for such complicated words. Especially now that Darcy had started rubbing the backs of her fingers up and down the arch of his cock where it was still trapped in his pants._ _

__"I do."_ _

__"It's… They can feed off of it. It's… it's something they can't make themselves. None of their kind can. It's why... "_ _

__"It's why they eat us." Darcy finished. "When all they really need is a sound fucking?"_ _

__"Basically." Eddie said, a laugh forming in his throat only to be choked off by a gasp as Darcy gave him a more pointed stroke with the heel of her hand._ _

__"Seems like Venom's not the only one with the itch." She said coyly._ _

__"No. No they are not." Eddie agreed, his voice rising in pitch as she kept stroking him._ _

__"You want something else? My hand? My mouth?"_ _

__Eddie grunted in desperation, shoulders twisting against the mattress as he fought not to thrust up against her hand. "Babydoll… I would love all those things, but if you tease me I'm not going to last. Maybe next time?"_ _

__Darcy grinned to herself. She normally hated pet names, but something about the way Eddie would get more and more syrupy the more turned on he got was down right precious. And she was eating it up like candy. "Okay… next time."_ _

__"I just want… I want to feel you…" he whined, pushing against her fingers as she cupped him. "God, please."_ _

__Jesus Christ… he was a begger. Darcy was not ready for that. "Alright, babe." she scratched her nails lightly over his fly, just to watch him give a full body shudder. "Let me get your jeans off, and then I promise I will ride you like a charging draft horse."_ _

__It was something of an awkward fumble, especially with Venom stretching like weird, sentient taffy between them, but she managed to get him completely nude without too much fumbling. And when she had, Darcy pulled herself back astride him, sitting low across his thighs and resting her hands on his heaving chest as she admired him. His cock matched the rest of him, thick and flushed and straining. Darcy contemplated going against his wishes, just for a little bit, and licking her way up that fat, full length, but he had said he wouldn't last. And they'd both made hints about a "next time."_ _

__So next time, then. Because that was going to be a thing._ _

__Darcy rocked forward on her knees, catching the plump curve of his lip between her teeth and reeling him into a filthy, bitey kiss. His hands found her thighs and then her ass, with Venom trailing filaments of symbiote goo behind as they both explored the shape of Darcy's body. Part of her wanted to lay down and luxuriate in the attention like an over-sunned cat, but Eddie (and Venom too probably) was getting more desperate by the minute. And she was not in the mood to tease. At least not like that. Not tonight._ _

__Next time..._ _

__As she wrapped her fingers around his bare cock, he sucked in a humid breath, breaking the kiss to stare up at her, desperate and glassy-eyed._ _

__"I've got you." she whispered, feeling him instantly relax and fall back on the pillow with a soft thump. "You ready?"_ _

__He just nodded, the muscle in his jaw bulging as he did so._ _

__Darcy lined him up and began to sink down. Even with two orgasms, his girth was a challenge, but the look on Eddie's face chased any thought of backing down from her mind. Shock mixed with completely dumbstruck pleasure that blew his pupils wide and parted his beautiful lips in the prettiest little "Oh." She kept going and going, sliding lower and lower in a slow steady press that had him crying out before the end. And Darcy whined aloud too as she settled her pelvis down onto his. The weight and width of his cock pushed against all her most sensitive places, making her shiver and shudder._ _

__Eddie's hands pulled at her, kneading her flesh everywhere he could reach, but all without strength or direction. Just a needy motion that cycled in tandem with his sweet moaning. Darcy leaned forward again, kissing him more gently this time, drawing his bottom lip and then his tongue into the caressing suction of her mouth. She tried to match rhythms, but every time she moved her hips, he drew up so stiff that he was shaking, face caving in on itself as he panted for breath._ _

__He was close. So close to the edge and he didn't want to be. Darcy stilled over him, passing a hand across his damp brow in hopes of soothing him as she sought a solution. "Venom?" Darcy half-called and half-crooned. "Can you help me, sweetheart? Help us draw this out a little?" Even as the words were leaving her mouth, she wondered if she might get more than she bargained for by asking them for help. But she didn't have any better ideas at the moment._ _

__"It's alright, Venom. Go ahead…" Eddie ground the words out through gritted teeth, his hips shaking with the effort of keeping still._ _

__Venom began to manifest from Eddie's flanks in slow looping tendrils no thicker than a broom handle, draping and winding over and over across Darcy's thighs. She watched, wide-eyed for a moment before she reached out to touch them, finding they were warm and satiny smooth, and despite their slick appearance, didn't seem to leave a wet trail where they passed. They just pulled Darcy's hips flush to Eddie's, and began to rock them both together in a steady, shallow motion._ _

__The angle pushed the head of Eddie's cock against the place that sent sparks zipping out of Darcy's core. And the warm coiling touch of Venom over her thighs also helped stoke the heat that was slowly building in the pit of her stomach. As she followed the direction of the symbiote, something molten crept up her spine. And she realized it was more of the tendrils, creeping up to clutch at her, warm and rich and grasping as they snaked their way up the cleft of her spine._ _

___Hungry_ had been the word Eddie had used to describe how Venom had felt. _Wanting._ For the touch and taste of her. For the pleasure of her. She could feel it, where Venom had let themselves seep into her body, the sensation and desire bleeding into her own. She looked down at Eddie finding his expression neatly mirroring her own; a little wild-eyed and almost covetous as Venom's liquid tentacles wrapped around them both._ _

__"What is it?" She said, her voice gone thin and reedy._ _

__"You…" He cinched his eyes shut against the question. "I wanted to see this." He said, somehow managing to blush even deeper, all the way to the points of his ears. "Venom… they look good on you."_ _

__"Yeah?" she said, rubbing her hands along the bands of slick black symbiote that tied them together. "You've thought about this?"_ _

__Eddie prised his eyes open and stared up at her, the guilt naked in his eyes as he nodded. "We both have.”_ _

__Darcy smiled, her hands skidding over her breasts and then down to the tendrils looped over and around her hips. “It's alright, Eddie. I’ve got you. I’ve…” She looked down to where Venom coiled around them as she clutched her thighs around Eddie's waist. She touched them… Eddie and Venom and herself, and took a grounding breath… letting herself feel. Letting Venom's want mingle with her own. “We’ve got you.”_ _

___It was nice to be had._ Darcy thought again. _Incredibly nice.__ _

__Eddie was starting to slip as she let herself be worked over him. His gray eyes had gone glassy, and his face slack. His plush lips were parted and every guided thrust ended with a breathy little groan that sounded like music to Darcy's ears. He alternated clamoring for Darcy's skin and clutching at Venom. It was beautiful to see him so uncollected. To see that shared hunger manifesting in his actions. In his grasping, clutching hands._ _

__She didn't have to hold on to him or steady herself. Venom held her… rocked her over Eddie and down onto his length with precise strokes that had her seeing stars. So Darcy concentrated on making a show of herself. She drew his eyes to her and then cupped her breasts, bouncing them with each thrust. And sliding her hands into her hair, combing through the curls and moaning when her fingers would catch. All the while Eddie stared up at her like she was the Eighth Wonder… and she knew he wasn't the only one peering out of his eyes._ _

__The warmth was spreading, and Darcy looked down to see the shimmering patina of black growing. Creeping out like an oil slick over both their bodies. Venom covered them both where they joined now, still guiding her hips as she rode him. Darcy let herself tip forward, catching Eddie's open mouth in a hungry kiss that she couldn't entirely be sure whether it was her idea or Venom's. She could feel them even more strongly now, seeping further into her bloodstream and drawing on the growing arcs of pleasure that the steady rhythm was continuing to stoke._ _

__At some point, Darcy realized she couldn't really see anymore. On a particularly scintillating roll of her hips, she'd let her head fall back and closed her eyes, but when she opened them again, the world was hazy and dark. That veil of blackness was back, but it was as if she could feel even more for its deprivation of her sight. She could feel herself… feel Eddie's pleasure at sucking on her nipple as he drove himself blindly up into the ravening heat of her pussy. She could touch him in the darkness, and set her teeth against the shell of his ear. And feel him respond._ _

__And she could feel Venom all around both of them. Warm and liquid… full of teeth and claws that hung in her skin and her hair… pulling sweetly… scratching pleasantly… and… and wanting so deeply. She felt… She felt..._ _

___Hungry._ _ _

__God, she'd never known want like this. Want this strong didn't exist save where the three of them joined. Want wasn't even the right word. It was craving… and luxuriating in that craving… being defined by it… directed by it… by it whispering in her ear..._ _

__**Darcy.** Venom's voice purred in the darkness surrounding her. And rattled in her ribs where the symbiote had taken root. **Oh… oh, it's different like this…**_ _

___You are not wrong._ She thought, hoping the symbiote could hear her. It was the best she could do in the words department at that moment. _ _

__**Sweet Darcy.** Venom's sibilant voice hissed sweetly. **Our sweet Darcy.**_ _

__She felt as if she might incandesce at any moment from the desire pouring over and through her in brilliant waves. There were no words to respond with, so instead of talking she just tried as best she could to push her emotions across the connection they'd formed. Some messy, clumsily adhering mix of gratitude, and desire, and giddy hope that this was not the only time. She only had to hope for a split second, because the sentiment was echoed and then doubled, and that was when she realized she could feel Eddie as well, adrift but present in their shared haze of want and wonder._ _

__Venom seemed to swell around them at this, stoking them both in their desire as they grew practically monstrous with their own want. And Venom preened at their shared pleasure as it grew and grew, the symbiote keeping both their climaxes curtailed until the perfect incendiary moment. Darcy felt like her blood might boil before she actually managed to come, and Eddie was groaning somewhere beneath her as if he felt the exact same._ _

__Words were gone. So was anything besides grinding herself down on the swollen flesh beneath her. She knew nothing but hunger all the way out to where their edges met and sparks flew._ _

__And then just like that, the orgasm broke over all three of them like a rolling clap of thunder. Darcy might've screamed. Eddie definitely did. And around them there was a great, roaring shudder as Venom was also swept up in their shared pleasure. For Darcy the orgasm was everywhere, rushing upward from where Eddie continued to mindlessly drive his cock into her. Rushing outward and into Venom, like an explosion. And rushing downward. Down and down and down until she was blind with it. Blind with pleasure and blind with the symbiote wrapped around them both, securing them in a cocoon of ecstasy she wasn't sure she could ever bring herself to escape from._ _

__And then just like that, the two of them were alone in bed again, riding out the aftershocks and collapsing side by side on the pillows. As if it had been the most normal sex in the world._ _

__"That was…" Darcy was at a loss for words._ _

__"Yeah." Eddie finished for her, pulling her to him with arms that didn't seem too keen on being arms at the moment. "You okay?"_ _

__"Better than okay." she nodded fervently, dragging one limp leg across his. "Not moving any time soon though."_ _

__"Same."_ _

__"Is it… is it…" Darcy faltered and fumbled the question._ _

__"Always like that?"_ _

__"Yeah."_ _

__Eddie pulled a smug smile, bumping his nose against hers. "It can be better."_ _

__"Better?" Darcy parroted incredulously. "I'm not sure I can handle better. I think I might lose an ovary."_ _

__"If we keep this up, I'm not sure you're going to get a choice. Venom's a fast learner. And they're going to want their turn."_ _

__Darcy swallowed around that concept as she tried in vain to wet her mouth. "Speaking of V, are they… alright?"_ _

__"They're… taking a minute. They're good." Eddie said fondly. "Very very good."_ _

__"And… you?" Darcy asked carefully._ _

__Eddie snugged his arms around her, pressing his forehead to hers. "I'm better than good."_ _

__"Good." Darcy replied. "I… liked that."_ _

__"Yeah?" he said arching an eyebrow. "Not too weird."_ _

__"Not too weird." She confirmed. "Though admittedly, my threshold for that is pretty high at this point. Think I might like to make a habit of it, though."_ _

__"That so?"_ _

__"If you're still interested." It was her turn to rub the tip of her nose against his. "If _they're_ still interested."_ _

__"We are very much interested." He said, taking the opportunity to steal a kiss._ _

__"We?"_ _

__"It's always we."_ _

__"No, just… V's down too?"_ _

__"They've already asked for an again."_ _

__Darcy smiled and stole a kiss. "Then absolutely again."_ _

__Something shifted and settled behind Eddie's eyes. Something that only partially had to do with Venom. And had everything to do with the concept of "again."_ _

__Darcy leaned in and captured his lips in a gentle kiss. "Absolutely again." she repeated, before letting him pull her against his broad chest and slipping down into a wonderfully comfortable sleep._ _

__***_ _

__When Darcy came to, the sun was already up. She and Eddie had drifted apart in their sleep, probably just for comfort's sake. He was still sleeping soundly curled up on his side, but there in the sheets between them, Venom had manifested part way from his chest as a small black puddle with a toothy face not unlike the one she'd seen when they'd taken over Eddie at the recruitment office. Darcy started a little at the sight at first, but smiled once her brain caught up to the waking world._ _

__"G'morning, V." She said sleepily, pillowing her head on her arm._ _

__The head cocked slightly to the side. **"Why do you call us that?"** They rasped, their voice more grating and brittle sounding when it wasn't ringing inside of Darcy's skull._ _

__Darcy blinked, realizing this was only the second time she'd actually heard Venom's voice with her ears. "V?" she said rather thickly. "It's like… a nickname. Sometimes people do that. Take the first letter of your name and just call you that."_ _

__**"So you would be "D.""** _ _

__"My brother called me "Little D" when we were growing up. Because his name was Daniel and he was "Big D" to all his friends."_ _

__Venom gave a soft, thoughtful rumble. **"But you are not so little. You are fearless."**_ _

__"I wouldn't go that far." Darcy blushed._ _

__**"You jumped off that beam without a second thought. You offered yourself to me without a second thought. You let us… touch you… without a second thought."** Venom reasoned. **"Those are not small feats. Nearly every human I've encountered… even Eddie would balk at such things at first."**_ _

__"But that doesn't mean I wasn't afraid. I just… wasn't afraid of only that. I was more afraid of other stuff. I've lead a pretty crazy life these last few years. I'm… I've got some weird calibration about danger, I guess."_ _

__Venom gave another of their thinking grumbles. **"Humans are fearful creatures."** _ _

__"Yeah, we are. Comes with being fragile, I guess."_ _

__**"Fragile."** Venom repeated the word, their little pink tongue flicking in the air almost as if they were tasting it. **"Eddie said that we had to take care of you. That that's how you show someone you care about them."**_ _

__"It's one way."_ _

__**"Chocolate is another way."** Venom replied, leaning into the words._ _

__"It is. It's… it's my way of showing you I care about you. I admit there's going to be something of a learning curve there."_ _

__**"How so?"** _ _

__"I just… I'm going to have to learn the things you like. Both of you."_ _

__**"We like orgasms."** _ _

__Darcy had to clamp her hand over her mouth to keep from screeching with laughter and waking Eddie who was still sound asleep on the bed behind Venom's little puddle. "I mean-" she gasped to stifle another sudden giggle, shoved her hand back over her mouth and proceeded to talk through her fingers. "I mean… something else. Something little."_ _

__**"Like the chocolates?"** _ _

__"Yes, like that."_ _

__Venom seemed to draw in on themselves in contemplation. **"Touch us."** They said finally, sitting up a little taller._ _

__Darcy cocked her head. "You mean… Eddie and by proxy you or… or just you? Like you are now?_ _

__**"Both."** _ _

__"Oh okay. Like this?" Darcy reached out a tentative hand, and Venom arched up to meet her halfway. Touching the symbiote was a strange sensation. Venom was definitely tangible… slick and satiny under her fingers, but there was so much give to them. And their substance wove itself between her fingers as she, for lack of a better word, gave them a pet. And for their part, Venom seemed to enjoy it. They gave a pleasured sort of purring grumble, pushing against her palm like an affectionate cat. That sound roused Eddie who reached down without opening his eyes and rested a hand in the center of the pile of symbiote goo. He stroked sleepily for awhile, almost as if on autopilot. But when his fingers met Darcy's, he opened his eyes blearily._ _

__"We're having petting lessons." Darcy said sheepishly._ _

__"Mmm…" he gave an intrigued little hum which turned into a cavernous yawn. "I can give you petting lessons for me too."_ _

__"That so?" she asked, grinning wryly._ _

__**"I can give you Eddie petting lessons."** Venom chimed in with a toothy grin, making both the humans in bed choke on air and bowl over with sleepy giggles._ _

__Eddie and Darcy closed the space, squishing Venom affectionately between them. Darcy could feel them shallowly soaking in just over her rib cage. Her blood suddenly felt hot and thick in her veins again, but that strange sensation was rapidly becoming less jarring and more of a comfort._ _

__"Can they be shower petting lessons?" Darcy asked, the words coming out sweet and humid against Eddie's open mouth. "Because I'm feeling shower lessons before we have to get to work."_ _

__"I couldn't agree more, doll." Eddie replied, capturing her lips in a kiss._ _

__And as they gradually disappeared, soaking into Eddie's body like water and keeping one tendril wound around Darcy's wrist, Venom whispered. **"That makes three of us."**_ _

__***_ _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So there is one more chapter after this one. It was originally supposed to be a quick little epilogue thing, but every ending I gave it felt awkward and weird... so I'm in the process of turning it into a full length chapter. However, my writing process is slow which is one of the reasons I always start publishing after I'm finished with the rough draft (for all the good it did me here I guess...). So what I'm saying is the final chapter may be late. There's no plot... it's just character stuff. But there's a lot of potential still here after this chapter and I don't know if I'll ever get to it in a sequel (I'm about to dive back into my Steve/Natasha/Bucky MCU series with a vengeance because there's things I need to button up before Endgame). So please be patient with me. I'm working as fast as I can on this final chapter. But then it's gotta be beta-read and that takes time... so just be patient. I promise it's coming. If you want to find me on Tumblr to stalk my progress, I'm @littlethingwithfeathers.
> 
> Love to you all! See you very soon!


	11. Just Give Me the Monsters

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Can I ask for something?" 
> 
> "Anything, doll."
> 
> The curious frown still hadn't left her face. "Can I see them?"
> 
> Eddie's eyebrows shot towards his hairline. "Venom?" 
> 
> "Yeah. Like… see them for real?" Darcy nodded, scratching her thumbnail over the edge of the foil. "I just… I haven't really seen them. Y'know? Not since Joliet. And before that it was in that recruitment office."
> 
> "Yeah…" Eddie said, still trying to follow her logic.
> 
> "I guess what I'm saying is… Venom and I haven't really been face to face. Y'know… where we weren't all about to die."
> 
> He blinked a few times. It was a sign Darcy was used to reading as _"Internal conversation processing… please wait."_ so she gave them a moment.
> 
> "You… you're sure?" Eddie finally said.
> 
> "They've already been crawling around inside my bloodstream. May as well get a better look." Darcy said squaring up her shoulders a little. False bravado did wonders.
> 
> "Alright…" Eddie sighed, and then canted his eyes up towards the ceiling. "Alright… go ahead, buddy."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Monday, everyone!
> 
> Well, here we are! The end at last! And I actually managed to finish this chapter on time, which is a feat for me. Many MANY thanks to @kaminaduck for getting a rush on for this chapter. However, editing mistakes may remain so please let me know if you catch grammar issues or word doubling or things like that. For a piece this size (8k words!!!) it usually takes me about a month to write, then let it sit, edit, let it sit again, edit again, get it beta read, let it sit some more and then edit one more time before it goes live. So I apologize if the polish is not up to snuff, but I didn't want to keep you guys waiting. Plus I've got other projects that need my attention before Avengers: Endgame comes out.
> 
> Speaking of other projects, I've seen some noise in the comments about wanting a sequel. I cannot promise anything, but I am thinking about it. There's a plot taking shape in my head that picks up maybe six months to a year after this. I probably won't start writing proper until late April at the earliest, summer would be the soonest I'd start publishing. Keep an eye on my Tumblr for updates!
> 
> Many thanks to my beta readers KaminaDuck, musicnerd88, herophelia, and TenaciousAeiolai for all their invaluable help on this project. I absolutely could not do this without you. Thank you all so very much.
> 
> And speaking of thanks... wow. You guys have been so supportive of this piece and of me. I can't tell you how much I appreciate all the feedback, kind words, and just sheer excited flailing you guys have sent me for this fic. It's been one of the most popular things I've written to date, but arguably the most niche as well. This pairing isn't even in the same canon (yet... we're watching you Disney...) but you guys just jumped right on board, cheering me on the whole way! So thank you so so so much! 
> 
> Now, without further ado... the last chapter of "A Room for Rent in the Fourth Estate." Enjoy everyone!

***

“I’m always looking for the monster. Not even just in horror. I want them in everything. Just give me the monsters. Logical conclusions don’t satisfy. Monsters satisfy, absolutely.” ― Victor LaValle, _Big Machine_

 

***

Three weeks back at the Avengers Facility and it was as if Darcy had never left. She fell easily into the lab assistant groove again. Coffee. Paperwork. Reminders to eat. More coffee. And extra coffee for herself. Everyone talked about how much they had missed her and how grateful they were that she'd decided to come back. And, truth be told, she was glad to be back. Back in her own bed, with the Stark Tech endless hot water, and the 24/7 cafeteria with the best chicken sandwich ever. And back with her friends. Nothing had changed.

Well, maybe not nothing, exactly. She'd gotten a short article published, with two more in the pipeline. So...

"You're different." Steve Rogers opined one morning as he helped himself to some of the coffee Darcy had made.

She drew up a little at that, hiding her surprise behind a sip from her own mug of caffeinated heaven. "I am?" she settled on saying after a moment.

"You seem different." Steve clarified. "Don't know that I've ever seen someone come back from a college internship like it was a vacation."

Darcy just shrugged. "I mean… it kind of was a vacation. The Fourth Estate's got a great view." she said, smiling, but mostly to herself behind the rim of her mug.

"Yeah? Y'know, they say that journalism isn't what it used to be. 'Course, they've been saying that since the 40s. Everyone kept saying that television was going to ruin everything."

She gave a little wobble of her head. "Eddie said that to me too, actually. About journalism changing. And you guys aren't wrong. No one who's saying that is wrong. They never have been. It is changing. It has to."

"But?" Steve prompted, leaning on the breakfast bar facing her with his coffee mug steaming between his palms.

Darcy pouted her lips as she thought. This was officially the longest one on one conversation she'd ever had with Steve Rogers, and while the thought of discussing anything deeper than the weather with him tied her guts in anxious knots, she also honestly wanted to make the most of it. And possibly hide under the table. Those eyes, man… everyone said it was like he could see through you, and they were not lying. Maybe he had X-ray vision? Who was to say, after all…?

"But journalism's changing because modes of communication are changing. And that's nothing new." she said, giving a little shrug. "It's a hard change. Mostly because it was a fast change. It _is_ a fast change. I mean, the world of information exchange is totally different now than it was even just five years ago, and it's… it's not all good in some ways. It's hard to do an in depth story when all anyone wants is sound bites for the nightly news and pithy one-liners for Twitter."

"But…?" Steve encouraged her again, with that knowing Steve-esque smile. 

"But that doesn't mean it isn't worth doing. That it isn't worth trying to find some nuance." Darcy said, planting her hands on her hips. "Or that I don't still enjoy doing it. Just… the presentation's gotta adapt."

"I can tell you're enjoying it." Steve grinned at her, clinking his coffee mug against hers where it rested on the counter. "Whatever grindstone it is you're working at right now, it's been good for you."

She mirrored his smile. "Thanks! I'm taking pot shots at the NRA as a warm up right now. Eddie got me some space in an online journal he writes for. It's not much space, but it's enough to get in some of those pithy one-liners." She lifted her shoulder again. "It's nothing big, but it comes with a check and it's a foot in the door. They do the more in depth stuff so… who knows? Might turn into something. I've already got more than I need on this gun control business, so turn around would be quick if they decide they want something longer. It's hard to balance the whole fast-accurate thing. Especially in internet print. If you're doing breaking news, it sometimes seems like you can't be fast enough, and… I'm talking too much."

Steve really smiled then. "Nah. You seem happy."

Darcy cocked her head a little. "That what you meant when you said I seemed different?"

"Not just that." he replied, noncommittally, before taking a long sip of his coffee. "You liked working for Brock?"

"Yeah." She replied. "He's… we got along great. I learned a lot working with him even just for a little while."

"Yeah? He seemed… I dunno. I went to watch some of his stuff when I heard that you were interning with him and… he's a pretty gruff and pointed guy."

"He saves it for the camera." Darcy said with a wave of her hand. "He's tenacious, but he's not an asshole."

"Just a big cuddly teddy bear underneath? All chocolate and Netflix binges?" Steve teased with a grin.

Darcy choked on her coffee, just as F.R.I.D.A.Y.'s synthetic voice chimed in from overhead.

"Ms. Lewis? You have a visitor."

Her whole body drew up in a surprised frown as she wiped a stray drop of coffee from her mouth. "A what now?" she said, still sputtering a little around her mis-swallowed coffee.

"A visitor." F.R.I.D.A.Y. repeated. "Shall I have them wait for you in the foyer?

"Wh-who is it?" Darcy asked, warily.

"I'm afraid I've been asked not to disclose that information." came the primly worded answer. "It would seem the intention would be to… surprise you."

Darcy frowned at Steve as she processed this. 

"You don't know who it is?" He asked.

She shook her head as her brow crowded lower.

"Want me to come down with you?" He offered, mirroring her expression.

She gave a small shake of her head as she hastily downed the last of her coffee. "No, I mean… you don't need t-"

"I'll come with you." He cut off her polite stammering by swinging around the side of the breakfast bar to fall in step with her as they headed for the main foyer.

And there on the mezzanine, staring out the floor to ceiling picture window was a familiar figure, with a familiar smile, and a familiar leather jacket, and a motorcycle helmet tucked under an arm.

"EDDIE!" Darcy practically shrieked, her voice echoing off all the glass and stone tile as she bolted for the stairs. She galloped down them two and three at a time until she could just jump into Eddie's waiting arms.

"Hey, doll." he said into her hair as he spun her around a few times.

"What are you doing here?" She exclaimed, squeezing him tighter before he set her on her feet. 

"Working, actually." he answered, keeping his arms around her waist. "Chasing a story about some illegal dumping of toxic industrial waste in the wilderness areas, and I uh… couldn't resist stopping by to say hi."

"Stopping by? The nearest wilderness area is like two hundred miles north of here, dude!" Darcy teased, punching him in the shoulder.

"Yeah… so what are the odds I can stay the night?" He asked, giving her a wag of his eyebrows as he picked her up and spun her around again. "This place have guest protocols or-"

"I think we've got a fold out couch or something somewhere." Steve's voice piped up from the stairs behind them.

Eddie's whole frame went taut as they both turned. "Oh uh… hi!" He said, hastily, his brain rebooting so that he could put out his hand as Steve descended the steps. "Eddie Brock."

"Steve Rogers." He clasped it with a smile. "I'm familiar with your work. Thanks for fighting the good fight."

Color flushed into Eddie's cheeks, and Darcy had to stifle a giggle when she saw the blush. "Well, y'know." He rubbed his neck awkwardly. "Somebody's gotta fight for the little guy. I mean… you would know."

"Maybe a bit." Steve retorted. "Good to meet you, Eddie. See y'round, Darcy."

"Bye, Steve!" She replied cheerfully.

They both watched as he ascended the stairs and rounded the corner before Eddie turned to her.

"Holy shit." he hissed. "That was Steve Rogers! Like… "Captain America" Steve Rogers! THE Steve Rogers!"

"Yep." Darcy replied, slipping her hands under his jacket and pulling him to face her. "I was just having coffee with him when you arrived."

"You were having coffee with Captain America." he said, a little breathless with incredulity.

"His name is Steve." Darcy laughed. "And yes. He needs coffee to wake up like everyone else. I'm telling you. They're all breathtakingly normal people, Eddie. All of them. Just the other day, Maria Hill was showing off her new thigh holster to Natasha, which was both distracting and scary as fuck, let me tell you, and Sam Wilson, who was supposed to be testing a new propulsion system for his pack? Well, he was paying more attention to them than he was to what he was doing and he flew into a support beam. Knocked himself clean out." 

Eddie let out a raucous peal of laughter at that.

"Come on… be honest." Darcy raised up on tip toe and bumped her nose against his. "What really brought you up here two hundred miles out of your way?"

"You." he replied, smile softening. There was a keen flick of his eyes to be sure they were alone before he lowered his voice to a husky whisper. "We wanted to see you."

"We?" Darcy arched an eyebrow.

"We." Eddie confirmed, leaning down to capture her lips with his own. She melted into the contact, her fingers twining together with his as he licked into her mouth. Her head spun. His tongue was far too clever. His teeth far too sharp. His fingers were winding tighter and tighter around her own... and… her face felt so hot… like she'd been standing in the sun all day and… and... 

**Darcy…**

Darcy's knees nearly gave out at the sound of her own name in Venom's sweet, purring growl, and she smiled into the kiss, feeling the sharpness of their teeth against her lips.

**We have missed you.**

"I've missed you too." she said, words hot and humid against Eddie's panting mouth. "That the only reason you're here?"

"No." Eddie replied innocently. "I also wanted to see if you felt like joining me on this project."

"Need an intern again already? Someone to fetch you coffee and bring it to you in bed?" She teased, stealing another kiss as she felt Venom still twisting between their braided fingers.

"No, but I can think of a few other bed-related duties you could do for me that don't fall under the heading of internship." Eddie replied. 

**So can I.** Venom growled through both their thoughts. **Like bring us chocolate in bed!**

"Venom!" Eddie hissed.

But Darcy dissolved into affectionate laughter, pressing her face against the creaking leather of Eddie's jacket. "You want chocolate, sweetie?" she asked, looking up at Eddie and seeing some shade of Venom's eager smile reflecting back at her.

**Yes.**

"Well, it just so happens that I'm in good with The Black Widow," She said, playfully swaying her shoulders back and forth. "And she brought me back some Belgian chocolate from her recent security detail gig with NATO."

**Belgian chocolate?** The symbiote asked.

"Doll, you're going to spoil them."

"I'll spoil both of you, don't worry." Darcy said, keeping one hand threaded with Eddie's, Venom's gossamer tendrils still winding round and round their fingers. She pulled them both along behind her with a mischievous grin that made her eyes positively sparkle. "Come on. Let me show you around."

And together, the trio headed upstairs.

***

Darcy dragged the two of them all over Avengers HQ, showing off the lab (and doing the introduction rigmarole for Jane, Selvig, and the star-struck lab staff), visiting the training yard (Sam was giving Wanda a hand-to-hand lesson so they left them to it), and finally grabbing lunch at the amazing cafeteria. Finally, as the usual afternoon doldrums settled over the compound, they found their way up to Darcy's room. As Eddie took a look around, she hastily scurried about tossing some dirty clothes into her hamper and ferrying empty glasses to the sink.

"Sorry… I wasn't expecting company." she said sheepishly. "I kind of never have company, come to think of it."

"Please. We spent a week and change living together in crummy hotels outside Chicago." Eddie said, coming up behind her to spin her around and rock her against him.

Darcy let herself be puddled up against Eddie's broad chest as they swayed together. He was wearing that gray hoodie again. The one she kept threatening to steal. She let her fingers sink into the plush fabric to feel the resistance of his strong frame under her hands. 

"I missed you." Darcy admitted, toying with the drawstring. Eddie didn't answer right away. He was smiling strangely, watching her fiddle with the fraying string, and Darcy frowned up at him. "What is it?"

His smile grew teeth. "Let's just say someone was promised chocolate. And that someone has less patience than it would take to fill a shot glass."

Darcy raised on tiptoe and planted a kiss on Eddie's lips before scurrying to her little kitchen and rummaging through some drawers. A few seconds of searching yielded a bar of chocolate wrapped in thin gold foil. Darcy bounded over to Eddie, already offering it, but when he reached for it, she pulled it back with a peculiar expression.

"What?" Eddie said with a curious smile. "You should know better than to tease Venom, doll."

She rocked back on her heels, cocking her head to one side as the gears visibly turned behind her eyes. "Can I ask for something?" She said, after a few seconds of contemplation.

"Anything, doll."

The curious frown still hadn't left her face. "Can I see them?"

Eddie's eyebrows shot towards his hairline. "Venom?" 

"Yeah. Like… see them for real?" Darcy nodded, scratching her thumbnail over the edge of the foil. "I just… I haven't really seen them. Y'know? Not since Joliet. And before that it was in that recruitment office."

"Yeah…" Eddie said, still trying to follow her logic.

"I guess what I'm saying is… Venom and I haven't really been face to face. Y'know… where we weren't all about to die."

He blinked a few times. It was a sign Darcy was used to reading as _"Internal conversation processing… please wait."_ so she gave them a moment.

"You… you're sure?" Eddie finally said.

"They've already been crawling around inside my bloodstream. May as well get a better look." Darcy said squaring up her shoulders a little. False bravado did wonders.

"Alright…" Eddie sighed, and then canted his eyes up towards the ceiling. "Alright… go ahead, buddy."

The transformation was slow this time. As if thick, cold syrup were dripping out over Eddie's frame. Wrapping around and stretching him... changing him, growing his frame taller and broader until a hood of teeth and rippling darkness covered his face. And then… Venom stood before Darcy. Seven feet tall and hulking. Tongue and teeth on full display, and pupil-less, milk-white eyes watching her for a reaction.

Darcy would be a liar if she said the sight didn't leave her feeling shaky at all. It was like before. No amount of upper-brain reasoning could ever completely quell human-prey instinct. Anything with that many teeth was a threat… for something with that many teeth, she was dinner. She'd felt how easy it was for them to tear a human twice her size in half. And even easier than that was swallowing one whole. Humans were snack-sized to Venom. Like potato chips on legs.

She dug her toes into the carpet and took a step forward. Eddie had said this was a package deal and she didn't want to start off pretending that it wasn't, only to wind up with a situation like the recruitment office happening again. And besides… for all the "us" and "we" that got thrown around, Darcy could say for certain that Venom was their own creature. Cooperation may come as naturally to them as breathing did to humans, but that didn't mean they didn't have their own desires and motivations. It really was a package deal. Two for one.

When Venom didn't move, Darcy took another step closer and stretched out one hand. "It's alright, V."

**"You're afraid. I can smell it."** Venom said, the tone of their grating voice sounding nearly contrite. Or ashamed. And that didn't sit well with Darcy at all.

"You look pretty scary, I'm not going to lie." Darcy said. "But I'm not afraid of you. I don't think you're liable to eat me at any moment."

**"I would never hurt you. Never let anyone hurt you. Neither of us would."** Venom asserted, reaching out and taking her hand. Darcy noticed that they smoothed the claws of that hand to touch her, cradling her fingers in theirs as if they might break.

"I know." Darcy reclaimed her hand and broke off a piece of chocolate. "Here. Have some." She held up the little square on her palm, half-expecting Venom to take it. And they did, but not with their hands. With their tongue, slipping it out and snatching up the little treat lightning quick, making Darcy jump and giggle behind a little thrill of adrenaline.

Venom chewed a moment before sighing contentedly, hands falling to bracket her hips. **"It's wonderful. But not as sweet."**

"European chocolate rarely is as sweet as American." Darcy answered, before popping a piece in her own mouth to melt on her tongue. "Try it now." She said, putting her hands behind her back to emphasize her intent.

Venom stared for a moment. **"Darcy…"** they whispered her name with no small amount of wonder.

She cocked her head and smiled, rising on tiptoes again though she'd never reach Venom's fanged mouth without them bending down to meet her. She reached out with her hand, her fingers finding their cheek and her palm finding the long curve of their teeth. She swallowed down a shudder, along with most of the bite of chocolate, moving instead to spread her other hand across the rippling muscles of Venom's flank. "It's alright, Venom." she coaxed. "You've kissed Eddie before, right?"

They just nodded, tongue lolling slightly as if they could taste the chocolate on the air between them.

"Kiss me, V. You like kisses." 

They gave another nod, and after a moment's stunned contemplation, they leaned down, thin lips stretching to cover their ferocious teeth. Darcy bravely opened her mouth under theirs, feeling that wickedly clever tongue dart between her teeth and taste the rich chocolate on her own tongue. A feral growl rattled her ribs and she swallowed it down, along with a shiver.

Venom pulled back, pupil-less eyes keenly looking her over. **"Darcy."** They said again. It was half a question and half a warning.

"It's okay." she assured them, putting on a flustered but genuine smile. "It's just… it's a lot."

**"Eddie warned you."** Venom replied, their shoulders hunching a little.

"He did. I know… and he's right." Darcy's hand darted out to catch the side of Venom's long toothy face before they could pull away. "But I knew going in. It's not… more than I can handle. Or more than I want to handle. It's… you're just very, very different, okay, V? I mean… I imagine I'm a little different from Eddie, yeah?"

Venom bobbed their head. **"You're… softer. You taste different."** They hissed the words out, tongue flicking as if they could taste her on the air. **"And you're… Eddie has muscles."**

Darcy grinned up at them. "Mmm… you like those, too, huh?"

**"Eddie… he… holds us sometimes?"** The admission seemed thorny for them to say out loud. **'It's nice… isn't it?"**

It was a feat of heroic will for Darcy to keep from giggling and dancing around in a little circle. That might've just be the cutest thing she had ever seen. Cuter and sweeter even than Venom liking chocolate or kisses. The carnivorous super-alien liked to be spooned. Would the wonders never fucking cease? 

"Well, you're different from Eddie, too. And from most people. You're… more plain-spoken about what you want. And that's a good thing, but it's different. I'm… sure you've figured out people love to talk around things all the time. And I like your muscles, too. And how tall you are."

**"My teeth frighten you."** Venom said, their shoulders hunching again. **"I remember… at the office..."**

"I'm getting used to them." Darcy assured them, willing herself to drag one finger down the arch of his upper teeth. "It's just instinct. Nothing a little time won't fix."

**"Darcy?"**

"Hmm?"

**"Can we have kisses again?"**

Darcy smiled, lacing her fingers together behind Venom's muscular neck. "As many as you like."

Venom dipped their head again, pressing their lips to hers but with less care and deference than before. She could feel their teeth this time as they opened their jaws over her parted lips. Their tongue was more insistent in its explorations of her mouth. But she was here for it. And she was prepared for it this time… for all the pleasurably alien sensations that washed over her. The press of hooked teeth. The clever serpentine licks from their tongue. And the slick softness of Venom's flesh under her hands. At once she was overcome with the memory of being swallowed whole by the symbiote. Of riding in their skin and of sheltering them in hers. Of wallowing in the pleasure they willingly shared and magnified for her.

Darcy couldn't help herself. She just wanted to be closer to them. Even with every inch of her body pressed to theirs, they were still too far away. She wanted to feel Venom simmering in her blood again. Wrapped around her bones and whispering the sweetest things into her mind. Darcy hopped up and wrapped her legs around their waist, feeling their clawed hands cupping her ass to support her. She managed to pull her lips free of theirs long enough to whisper a rough request. "Bed, Venom." she said, her voice gone husky and thick, as Venom's slick pink tongue caressed the arch of her cheekbone for want of her lips. "Please."

And just like that, they were moving. But she didn't have long to register that fact, because she could feel more appendages than just Venom's hands clinging to and pulling at her clothes.

**"Your skin, Darcy."** Venom growled against her throat, the glinting arch of their teeth pressed tight to her pulse. Clearly they had the same idea she did. Too far apart. Much too far apart...

"Whatever you want, V." Darcy said, her voice gone hazy as she arched back against where she could feel Venom holding her fast. More tendrils began to snake inside her clothes, slick and warm despite the chills they were sending up her spine.

They collapsed onto the bed in a pile of too many limbs. Venom had gotten her free of her shirt already, and Darcy was helping them with the hook of her bra. Their tongue felt like it was everywhere at once as Darcy licked her own trail up the taut lines and hollows of their throat. They tasted clean, and almost chemical. And Darcy had to resist the urge to take a bite, unsure if it was her own instinct or Venom's driving the impulse. 

**"Darcy… Darcy…"** Venom was practically snarling her name in desperation as they clawed at the button of her fly.

"What is it, Venom, baby…? What do you want?"

Venom seemed to bow up to look at her from mere inches away. They were so much bigger than Darcy. Hulking and crouched over her. **"To _taste_ you, Darcy."** They whined, their hunger for her palpable in their words as they tugged and tugged at her jeans. **Will you be sweet for us, Darcy? Let us have you? Please?**

Darcy blinked a few times as her brain completely shorted out. They had asked that question… She hadn't had a stroke. Those words had come out of that tooth-fringed mouth, all syrup-sweet and pleading. No irony. No teasing. Nothing but pure want. _Be sweet for us…_ Holy fuck, that was hotter than it would be coming from anyone else. 

Venom's desperation was contagious, it seemed. Especially since she knew at least the simple shape of the incessant hunger they bore. "To… is… is that what you want?" She said, suddenly feeling as if she had fire in her veins as she popped the button on her jeans. A sensation that for once had nothing to do with the symbiote crouched above her. But everything to do with them at the same time.

**"You said Eddie could… but we want to…"** Venom wheedled. **"Please, Darcy…"**

Darcy almost had to slam her head into her headboard to get her brain to restart again. Thankfully a thump against her pillow did the trick. "Yes… yes, Venom. I would like that."

There was a beat of silence, punctuated for Darcy by the sound of her own pulse in her ears. Then Venom threaded all their caressing tentacles into her belt loops and pulled her pants off in a single sharp motion. And just like that, Darcy was nude with a predatory alien crouched over her with their fanged maw gaping hungrily. So she scrounged up the only words she could think of.

"Please, Venom." she breathed, spreading her legs helpfully. 

Venom settled a little lower. **"Tell us how, Darcy.**

Hearing her name in that guttural purr was getting to be a thing for Darcy. She could practically feel it in every resonate space in her body… as if Venom's voice had taken up residence even without-

Oh, right… explaining oral sex to the symbiote with too many teeth. That was what she was supposed to be doing. Fuck. _Words don't fail me now,_ Darcy thought.

"Go… just go easy." she squeaked out, laying one hand on the side of their face and stroking their smooth cheek with her thumb.

**"Because of my teeth.**

"Well, yes but… even if you were human, I would say go easy. It's… It's a lot like kissing. Like gentle kissing. But…"

**But?** The eagerness was plain in Venom's voice.

"You… you can use your tongue more." Darcy said, feeling heat lick up her face as she stammered out her request. "Like… inside."

Venom cocked their head. **"Inside."** They repeated.

Darcy nodded and had to swallow twice to find her voice again. "Yes. If… if you want."

**"I do want."** Venom said leaning forward, their serpentine tongue flicking at the air. As if they could already taste her. 

"Just… go easy. Everything… it's just really sensitive down there. It… it doesn't take much. Yeah?"

**"Yeah."**

Venom took their time stretching out between her legs, like a cat sunning in a window. Their powerful arms bracketed her hips, claws scratching gently along her ribs, raising goosebumps all over her body. Darcy took a deep, steadying breath to calm her shaking. She was about to vibrate out of her skin and Venom had barely touched her. She slid down onto her pillows, letting her legs fall farther open so Venom could move between her knees. She could tell the symbiote was watching her carefully, taking in her trembling hands and labored breath. 

**"Darcy…?"** her name came out of that fanged maw as the gentlest question.

"Go for it, V." She encouraged, her palms skating down their forearms as she pulled their hands around to get a better grip on her hips. "I know you'll make it good."

**"I'll be gentle."** They promised, laying the sweetest kiss against the soft skin of her stomach, before ducking their head down between her thighs.

Darcy started to take another slow, calming breath, but the first touch of Venom's clever, snakelike tongue on the already flushed seam of her pussy drove air into her lungs with a harsh gasp. Holy shit. _Holy shit,_ that felt amazing. And that was just one little lick. Or at least what passed for a little lick from them. God, that tongue was so long and thick... she was-

Darcy realized that Venom had stilled between her legs. She looked down to see their pearlescent eyes staring up at her expectantly, and she felt herself smile.

"Well, don't stop now, sweetheart." she said, breathlessly. "You've got the right idea."

**"Darcy, can I… join with you like before? So I know I'm doing it right?"**

"Seems like cheating, but I'll allow it." Darcy dropped her head back onto the pillow as she felt Venom's hands begin to slip through her skin. She felt a prickling heat spreading all over for a moment, the usual sensation that marked Venom's presence. But quickly the feeling was superseded by more of that pink symbiote tongue licking its way between the folds of her pussy.

Jesus, nothing should feel this good. Every lick just kept going and going, drawing out moans from Darcy that would run out of air before Venom ran out of tongue. She thrashed on the bed a little, alternating between digging her fingers into the symbiote goo that bonded her to Venom and clawing at her hair… the sheets… whatever she could reach.

**This is right? This feels right…** Venom's voice crawled across the surface of her brain. Darcy wanted to draw the sound around herself like a blanket. To smother in it the way she had when Venom took her over. She could only nod, her voice robbed of air. **Is there more you want?**

"Inside…" she whispered aloud, though she was only able to form the barest shadow of the word, breathless as she was. Thank God for small favors of weird symbiote mind-melding, because Venom seemed to understand and she felt them press their fanged mouth tighter to her pussy. She flinched, feeling the shallow arch of their numberless teeth, but then gasped as their wicked tongue pushed easily inside.

She screamed. She couldn't stop herself, so she dug her nails into Venom's arms hoping to convey that this scream was not a bad thing. God, if they felt hot inside her blood, inside her pussy Venom felt like being filled with lava. But in the best way. With pressure, and warmth and insistence. She melted in their wake. Like being breached this way had stolen her bones, along with the ability to speak coherently…

"Venom… Venom…" she could moan their name a thousand different ways. They'd found her clit as well as the sensitive bundle of nerves tucked just inside her pussy. Of course they had. They were cheating, she thought distantly. But the marvel of it all was that with two feet of tongue, they could lick both at once. And it was driving her mad.

Where was Eddie in all this? She found herself wondering this, almost as if the question were a pleasure induced hallucination. Everything below her bellybutton had been eaten up in the slowly spreading warmth. She ached with it. She burned with it. She wanted to thrust but there was nothing to push against. Just that infuriating drag of Venom's tongue over all her most sensitive places. And, oh merciful _fuck,_ were they twisting their tongue inside her pussy? Twirling it… tasting her… everywhere they could reach... God, they were licking her up and she could feel their pleasure in her back teeth. Shared and magnified just like before… Fuck, Venom was fucking playing her like a violin.

"I wish you knew how good you look."

Darcy startled out of her pleasure-induced haze to see Eddie looming over her, shirtless now somehow, and covered in a thin patina of sweat. A quick glance down showed her that she was still covered below the waist in writhing symbiote goo, and she could still feel Venom sinuously working that wicked tongue against her inner walls.

"Is… is this alright, Eddie?" she asked, clawing desperately for every coherent word. "We sort of got… carried away."

He nodded, his mouth falling slack as he shuddered. "You feel amazing." 

**"Not half as good as she tastes."** Venom opined, turning back from Darcy's now dripping pussy to shoot Eddie a toothy grin.

"Bet it's as good as you feel, Love." Eddie replied. That was when Darcy noticed that he was still buried to the waist by Venom too, and there was a faint flex of his muscles as they moved over her in tandem.

"Are they… are you…" Her brain didn't have enough blood flow to make a cogent question. But Eddie took her meaning, though he seemed to be in the same boat in terms of higher brain function. He just nodded, giving a languid but obvious roll of his hips.

"Oh… oh wow…" Darcy flopped back on the pillow, her eyes going a little glassy.

If they were doing that… then… then… couldn't they… they could, couldn't they? They could… 

_Well, then._

Yeah, Darcy definitely did not have enough blood flowing to her brain to be thinking about this. About all the possibilities and combinations and… yeah. She couldn't think about this right now. Especially since she was about to come so hard she was pretty sure she was in danger of going blind. Venom was doing something with that ridiculously dextrous tongue that had her gasping and bucking. It felt like they were quite literally licking up the surface of her inner walls in long, liquid strokes. And they never missed that spot that made stars burst in her vision. Not once. They caressed it with their filthy tongue over and over until, finally, Darcy's orgasm shook free of her control, sending her careening over the cliff of her pleasure. She couldn't move. Thrusting didn't accomplish anything. All she could do was drown in it. And Venom didn't stop licking until it seemed they'd milked her for every last drop of ecstasy she could muster. Until she collapsed on the bed, boneless and gasping.

But Eddie was still going. Still pistoning his hips into Venom's now semi-shapeless mass. "Venom... " He moaned the name in a piteous tone, as his hands scrabbled for purchase in the writhing blackness. "Love, please... "

Venom looked back at Eddie, eyes heavy-lidded but as sharp as their teeth. **"The only thing stopping him from coming is me."** Venom said to Darcy. **"Feel how desperate he is. I like him like this."**

It was as if the sensory floodgates had been thrown open. Darcy could feel Eddie's feverish want. His balls were drawn up so tight they were nearly painful, to say nothing of his oversensitive cock as it pistoned in and in and into Venom. All to no avail. It made Darcy's core ache in the best way, especially in her hyper-sensitive post-orgasm state. 

"You're a tease, V." Darcy said, with only the slightest tremor in her otherwise teasing tone.

**"He likes it like this."** Venom replied. **"But I want… to give it to him another way. Will you help me?"**

Darcy stared up at Eddie, still red-faced and thrusting. For all the world he seemed oblivious to the conversation they were having. "Name it, V."

Venom crept up her body in a viscous, undulating wave, pressing their toothy face against the side of her neck and letting their tongue tease over one of her nipples. **"Let us hold you for him. Not restrain. Just hold."**

"Just… just hold. Yeah. I'd… I'd like that, because I don't think my body is good for anything but dead weight at this point."

"Mmm…" Venom half growled, half hummed against her cheek. "I think Eddie would disagree."

Darcy felt Venom begin to shift around both of them. They crept up between her and the sheets as they drew Eddie closer and closer until he was on top of her. He pushed his hands into her hair, pulling her to his chest in a searing kiss. Darcy felt Venom still working, arranging her legs a little wider and cradling her underneath Eddie's nearly limp and shaking body. 

She felt him slip inside, the thick weight of his cock making her gasp, and he seemed to feel the difference, too. His rhythm changed and he buried his face between her breasts, pounding into her as if his life depended on it. Darcy could feel Venom behind her, their head behind her now, resting on her shoulder with tongue lolling out to take idle swipes at Darcy's stiffened nipples.

**"Look at her, Eddie."** Venom crooned in that strange, grating voice of theirs. Eddie dragged his eyes up as he kept wildly thrusting. The want in his eyes cut Darcy to the quick. He was flushed and straining, sweat pouring down his face and shoulders as he drove himself into her again and again. 

**"Eddie's been wanting this."** Venom went on. **"Wanting me to spread you out for him. To hold you. Hold both of you."** Their voice trailed off a little, turning thoughtful and hazy towards the end. **"Oh… oh we wanted this…"**

Darcy looked up at Venom, watching them stare so lovingly at Eddie, who so blindly pursued his pleasure he could barely register that they were talking. There was a sadness in that harsh voice that startled her a little, even in her post-orgasm haze. "Hey." She whispered, drawing their attention. "We got you." she said leaning up to kiss them, sucking that clever tongue into her mouth. 

**"My sweet Darcy."** Venom whispered with a wistful smile. **"Our sweet Darcy."**

"Yours." she agreed, gripping their neck and giving them another quick, fierce kiss. "Want to take me for another ride?"

**"You'd let me?"**

"I bet Eddie would enjoy it." she replied with a reckless grin. " And he needs to come soon, or he's going to blow a gasket."

**"But would you enjoy it?"**

She gave them a peck on the cheek, just above the line of their ferocious teeth. "I know you'll make sure that I will."

Venom grinned back at her. **"Shall we?**

"Please. I think I'd like another orgasm sometime soon, too."

The filmy black gauze of Venom's presence washed over Darcy's vision as she fell backward into their embrace. Suddenly all external stimulation felt dim and muted. She could barely register the temperature in the room. The sheets. Eddie's hands.

But she could feel his cock, relentlessly pounding into her. Into _them._ He felt huge now. She could feel every thrust in her back teeth. She could hear him begging in his mind, mixed with half-formed thoughts of how soft she was. How wet. How perfectly the slick walls of her pussy gripped him. She felt herself reach for him… felt Venom reach with her arms and with tendrils of their own, drawing him up for a kiss. She could feel Eddie's tongue licking against the points of her teeth. And she could feel her own tongue… Venom's tongue really… long and hot and flexuous as it worked into Eddie's mouth, licked the sweat from his skin, teased one of his nipples until he cried out.

"Venom please…"

**Do we feel good, Love?** Darcy felt both of them ask, and that made something hot clench deep inside her core where Eddie had buried himself in both of them. 

God… _both_ of them. Jesus… this was hotter than it had any right to be. She could feel herself approaching the edge again… Maybe she really might go blind this time...

All Eddie could do was nod in response. He was beyond any words other than "please."

Darcy almost was, too, by virtue of sympathy. It was like his want had mingled with her own and changed it. She hadn't been on the edge before Venom took over, but now it felt like she hadn't come in ages. That she might never come again.

_Please, Venom…_ she echoed Eddie's pleas from within the cocoon of Venom's presence.

It felt as if the symbiote sighed. As if they were pleased to have their two lovers begging them for more. The rush of their shared orgasm was instantaneous, like a crack of thunder from lightning that had stuck too close. Together, they thrashed and thrusted and clawed into whatever they could reach. As if they were desperately lost in a tempest-tossed sea, when in reality they were only adrift in their own shared pleasure.

As they came down, Venom stayed, rooting themselves fully in Eddie's body once more, but still poking their head out as the completely wrung out humans collapsed on the bed together. Darcy's hand found them instantly, fingers curling into the writhing black goo. She'd never want Venom for her own, but that didn't stop her from wanting them close to feel their heat and satisfaction. Especially after a heart-stopping orgasm like that.

They lay like that for a long time. Fingers and lips and snaking tendrils idly caressing and kissing… It was oddly comfortable. And yet something in Darcy felt strangely restless.

She propped her chin up on Eddie's chest. "You really want me to come with you on this story?"

"Yeah." he replied. "We both do. Why?"

She shook her head absently. "Is this… what we're going to look like? When we're not fucking our collective brains out, I mean."

"It could." Eddie replied his tone more careful than she'd ever heard it.

"This isn't a trap, Eddie." she said, leaning up to kiss him. "I… kind of like the view from here. So I didn't want to… y'know…"

"Want to get attached?"

**"Too late."** Venom chimed in, a thick tentacle snaking down around her waist and pulling her body flush to Eddie's. 

Darcy laughed and gave a sheepish nod. 

"Don't worry, doll." Eddie assured her. "Pretty sure if our first time hadn't sealed it, this would have."

"And the chocolate." Darcy reminded him.

**"Speaking of which…"** Venom curled their upper lip as if giving the air a sniff, their tongue darting about tasting for the rest of the treat they'd been promised..

"Oh! Right!" Darcy half rolled over to paw for the nightstand, Venom not quite understanding that she could use a little more wiggle room. But after a good reach, she grabbed the rest of the chocolate bar and broke off several pieces.

"You said the Black Widow brought you this?" Eddie asked.

"Yep." Darcy said, breaking off a piece and passing it to Venom, who nimbly scooped it from her fingers with their dexterous tongue. "We aren't like… super close, but she spoils the R&D team sometimes so we'll keep giving her cool shit to play with."

"The Black Widow brings you souvenir chocolate from her assassination gigs." Eddie shook his head.

"It was a security detail. And she has a name, y'know. I could introduce you."

Eddie's eyes bugged out a little. "She sounds terrifying."

"She is terrifying." Darcy agreed, popping a square of chocolate into her own mouth before stealing kisses from both Eddie and Venom. "She could kill me with a tube of lip balm. But she also likes working on jigsaw puzzles while watching reality cooking shows. So six of one, half dozen of the other."

Eddie just shook his head. "You really want me to take up with those guys, don't you?"

"You don't have to join their Avenging, but y'know, if you're going to keep coming to visit me, you'll probably have to meet them eventually." Darcy pointed out. "Think of them like my crazy extended family."

**"We will come visit."** Venom insisted as they extruded a tentacle to root around in the wrapper for more chocolate.

Eddie looked dubious, making Darcy cuddle that much closer against his side. "Seriously, dude. They're not as scary as they sound. They all have a serious and highly contagious case of Tragic Backstory, and it makes every damn one of them sweeter than my granny."

He laughed, but still looked unconvinced, as he watched Venom sprout another tendril and wrestle the chocolate out of Darcy's hand. 

"And we still don't have to let them know about Venom if we don't want to."

He nodded, snugging one arm around her waist as his fingers played under Venom's chin "I'm… still thinking about that one." he said. "You really think Mr. Stars and Stripes would be fine with… us?"

"Sometime while you're here, I'll pull up an interrogation video for you where he was questioning some guy who worked on the project that brainwashed his old WWII buddy. Then you can tell me if you think he'd have a problem with a little HYDRA goon snack-time."

"Fair enough."

Darcy reached over and snatched the chocolate bar back from Venom, only finding one piece left. "Hey! You slimy twit!"

**"You can tell the Widow to bring you more."** Venom grumbled.

"Dude. Natasha Fucking Romanoff is not a chocolate delivery service." She said fishing the last bite of chocolate out and tossing the wrapper to the floor. "Here, come and get it if you want it so bad." She set the little square between her teeth and stuck her chin out.

Venom's head cocked slightly before they stretched forward, lips curled back from their wicked teeth. Darcy closed her eyes and willed herself not to move. She bravely reminded herself that Venom knew how to be gentle. And she was not disappointed. They took their side between the needle points of their teeth and snapped it carefully, almost delicately in half.

Darcy pulled the rest of the chocolate into her mouth, feeling it melt and pool on her tongue. When she opened her eyes, she saw Eddie staring at her dumbfounded as could be.

"Sorry." she said, a coquettish little flounce in her voice. "Did you want some?"

"Always." he replied, before leaning up to steal a slow, velvety, chocolate flavored kiss.

Darcy bumped her nose against his before she felt one of Venom's tendrils come up to tug at her chin so they could steal a kiss of their own.

"Hey!" she said, her lips pressed against their teeth as they both laughed. "You had the whole bar."

**"You taste better than chocolate. Even fancy Widow-delivered chocolate."** Venom replied, kissing her again, and again, and again. **"You… always have."**

"Always?" Darcy asked with a pleased and sheepish little smile.

**"Always."** Venom confirmed, wrapping both she and Eddie up in a thicket of black tentacles, weaving them until none of them could really feel where one started and the other left off.

They lay like that as the late morning sun stretched across the bed. Trading increasingly drowsy touches and kisses as they planned their trip up to the wilderness. Darcy, admittedly, was only half-listening to Eddie as he began to talk about the lead he'd found for the story. She was mostly listening to the steady thump of his heart against her cheek, and the steady purring growl that Venom gave every time she stroked their face.

Seriously, no one was going to ever believe her. Not about how they'd really taken down Midewin Delta. Or how the fast talking and gruff Eddie Brock was actually a giant teddy bear. Or about the predatory alien that shared his body, who loved orgasms and chocolate and kisses.

But mostly just about how lucky she was. Because laying here in the sun, cuddling with the two cutest creatures on this planet… she was certainly that.

Incredibly and ridiculously fucking lucky.

***

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you're interested in staying updated on my writing, please subscribe here and come follow me on Tumblr at @littlethingwithfeathers. I post semi-regular writing updates letting you know what's new, what's coming, and what I'm chewing on for the distant future. I write for MCU (hooray for multishipping madness!), Agents of SHIELD, Hannibal, and even a little HBO's The Newsroom and Star Wars!
> 
> Coming up next is another installment of my Steve/Bucky/Natasha fic series "Friendship is Unnecessary" and a sequel to my post-Snap Darcy/Loki fic "The Rain'll Be Gone in the Morning." Look for those coming out in the next couple of weeks... on Mondays as always!
> 
> Thank you all again for following this story and for encouraging me all the way! Your feedback is priceless.
> 
> Much love always!

**Author's Note:**

> Come flail at me about Marvel and other stuff over at @littlethingwithfeathers on Tumblr.
> 
> Updates coming on Mondays!


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